










x^-^ '^^- 



^0 



^^ -^C. 



- J- 




'f'r .^' ^ 



w^-s,^ ' 



■^./ 



•MJV •^'"\'^>#%^^/% •/ 






.A^ 




^ ^ f. X 






^ \ * 



* S ^ . V^ 







THE 



EXODUS OF ISRAEL 



ITS DIFFICULTIES EXAMINED, 



ITS TRUTH CONFIEMED. 



A REPLY TO RECENT OBJECTIONS. 



EEV. T. R. BIRKS, M.A., 

RECTOR OF KELSHALL, HERTS. 



Thy word is true from the beginning : and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth 
for ever." — Fs. cxix. 160. 



LONDON: 
THE EELIGIOUS TEACT SOCIETY ; 

56, PATEKNOSTEE EOW ; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHUECHYAKD ; 
AND 164, PICCADILLY : 

AND SOLD BY THE BOOKSELLERS. 

1863. 



.t.^*^ 
r^ 



A^ 



^\r.C, 




LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 



PREFACE, 



This Reply to the Bishop of Natal's recent work, " The 
Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua critically ex- 
amined," has been prepared in compliance with the 
request of the Religious Tract Society, and of many 
private Christian friends. I should, for several reasons, 
have preferred to keep silence in this particular con- 
troversy, which has some features unusually painful. 
But the wishes independently expressed from several 
different quarters, have seemed to me like a call of 
duty which I was bound to obey. 

My reluctance to enter on the work has arisen, in no 
degree, from any sense of the peculiar difficulties of the 
task. Several of the main objections are the same with 
which I have been familiar for many years, and which 
had been sifted in connection with long debated ques- 
tions of early Scripture chronology. Some of the 
others are, no doubt, wholly novel. But my only 
wonder concerning them is, how any one who had 
the least regard to his own reputation as a scholar, 
could venture to obtrude them on the public eye, and 
much more to make them the ground of a confident 
prophecy that in six or seven years faith in the Penta- 
teuch will be dying out from the minds of educated 
men. 



iv PREFACE. 

My aim has been to consider simply the objections 
themselves, which have been brought against the 
history of the Exodus, and to forbear all reference to 
the moral and ecclesiastical questions, of the gravest 
kind, which are suggested by the strange quarter from 
which this Deistical assault upon the truth of Scripture 
has come. I have taken them in the natural order, 
beginning with the Descent of Jacob into Egypt, and 
closing with the Conquest ; since in the work examined 
they are mingled together with no slight degree of 
confusion. My object has been, not simply to repel 
imagined difficulties, but wherever it was possible, to 
ascertain the true meaning of the sacred text, and tlie 
natural inference to which it leads with reference to the 
historical facts under discussion. Others may perhaps 
prefer to have a large choice offered to them of alter- 
native solutions. So far as I can judge from my own 
mental experience, the tendency of multiplied alterna- 
tives is to awaken sceptical doubt, and not to remove 
it ; and the defence of God's truth gains in moral 
power, when it is equally intolerant of misinterpre- 
tations of Scripture, whether made by friends or adver- 
saries of revelation. I allude to those explanations 
of Scriptural difficulties which exclude and contradict 
each other. There is a large class of cases where an 
objection rests on the union of two or three premises, 
equally groundless, and will be equally disproved, 
whether we select one or another of these false data for 
especial notice and refutation. 

One remark only I feel bound to make on the con- 
fident tone with which the objections here examined are 
announced in the Preface to the work. It seems to be 
quietly assumed that that general overthrow of faith in 
the authority and truth of Scripture, which a thousand 
adversaries have failed to effect, from Celsus and Por- 



PREFACE. V 

pliyrj to Paiue and Voltaire, will at length be attained, 
at least in England, by tliis solitary home thrust from 
episcopal hands. The faculty of faith has indeed turned 
inward. Faith in the Pentateuch itself is lost; but 
faith in "The Pentateuch Examined" culminates in 
its Preface, until it becomes a mental phenomenon of 
no usual kind. There may have been lunatics who 
have thought they could batter down the rock of 
Gribraltar by flinging handfuls of chaff, or blowing 
soap-bubbles against it. Their delusion, in the sight of 
heaven, would be slight and harmless, compared with 
the idea that objections, like those here examined, can 
overthrow the faith of the whole Church,- or even of the 
weakest genuine disciple, in that holy and perfect law 
of God, which forms the basis of the whole massive 
structure of Divine revelation. The combined momen- 
tum of so many false reasonings, arithmetical, critical, 
geographical, and historical, is not slight, when they 
impinge on ill-informed or self- conceited minds, whom 
every wind of false doctrine readily sweeps away. But 
they are light as dust in the balance compared with 
one sentence from the lips of the Son of God, who has 
written the truth deep in the heart of all His true dis- 
ciples, who bow with reverence to his Divine authority, 
— " It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for 
one jot or tittle of the law to fail." 

Kelshall Rectory, 
January 27, 1863. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface iii 

Introduction 1 



CHAPTER I. 
The Number of Jacob's Family 4 

CHAPTER II. 
The Scriptural Data of the Exodus .... 18 

CHAPTER III. 
The Increase of Israel in Egypt 25 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Exodus in the Fourth Generation . . ... 32 

CHAPTER V. 
The Genealogies in Egypt 48 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Number of the Firstborn 64 

CHAPTER VII. 
The First Passover 78 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Tents and Arms of the Israelites 92 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Flocks of Israel in the Desert 100 

CHAPTER X. 
The Camp and Tabernacle 108 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

PAGE 

TiiE FIRST Numbering of the People . ... . . . 116 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Household of Jacob 130 

CHAPTER XIII, 
The Levitical Families 144 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Priests in the Wilderness 165 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Passover in the Wilderness 180 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Events of the Fortieth Year 191 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Population of Canaan 202 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Review of Numerical Objections 216 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Review of Historical Objections 237 

CHAPTER XX. 
The Testimony of the Psalms 269 

CHAPTER XXL 
The Testimony of the Prophets 288 

CHAPTER XXII. 
The Testimony of the Gospels . 309 

Index of Scripture References 333 

Index to Subjects , , ^ ^ ^ 339 



THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL 



INTRODUCTION. 

Our blessed Lord and liis Apostles, tbrougliont their 
public teaching, assume and affirm constantly the truth 
and Divine authority of the Scriptures of the Old 
Testament. This doctrine is so interwoven into the 
whole texture of the Gospels and Epistles, that a re- 
jection of the Pentateuch must involve, by inevitable 
consequence, an equal rejection of the authority of 
Christ himself. The idea that the incarnate Son of 
Grod, whose name is The Truth, would put the seal of 
his approval, and even of his practical submission and 
reverence, on successful forgeries, and legendary dis- 
tortions of history, is monstrous and wholly incredible. 
This intimate connection between faith in the Law of 
Moses^ and in the Grospel, has been stated by his own 
sacred lips in the most emphatic terms : — " Had ye 
believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he 
wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how 
shall ye believe my words ?" 

The genuineness and historical veracity of the Books 
of Moses has been, therefore, from the earliest times, 
one main battle-field between the friends and adver- 
saries of the Grospel. From the remoteness of the age to 
which they refer, and their manifest difference of tone, 

E 



2 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

when compared with the New Testament, they have 
seemed to be pecnharly open to the assaults of sceptical 
minds. Many nominal Christians, in modern times, 
are conscious of little sympathy with them, and receive 
them with a very feeble and uncertain faith. A series 
of learned works, also, has appeared in Germany, and 
a few in England, during the last eighty years, in 
which their genuineness is denied; and laborious 
theories have been framed, to account for their origin at 
some period far later th-an the days of Moses. Able works, 
like those of Hengstenberg, Kurtz, and Havernick, have 
appeared in defence of the genuineness of the Pentateuch, 
and have repelled, with much learning and force of argu- 
ment, the chief objections that have been raised. But 
the controversy still continues, and is now passing over 
from Germany, and taking up its home among our- 
selves. The work of Yon Bohlen on Grenesis, translated 
and edited by a member of parliament, the chapters on 
the Old Testament in Baron Bunsen's " Egypt," the 
" Essays and Reviews," and quite recently, the Bishop 
of Natal's startling work, " The Pentateuch and Book of 
Joshua critically examined," have all conspired to make 
objections to the truth and genuineness of the Books 
of Moses familiar to a large class of English readers. 
The defensive works of Grermany, with all their learning 
and partial excellence, are not wholly adapted to the 
English mind, and often mingle questionable hypotheses 
with their general advocacy of Scriptural truth. 

It seems desirable, then, to examine the subject anew, 
with direct reference to the most recent forms of scep- 
tical argument, especially those which have been made 
accessible to English readers, and are likely to imperil 
the faith of our own countrymen. Oriental philology, 
in Yon Bohlen's Genesis ; wide and various learning, 
mingled with great self-confidence, in Bunsen's Egypt 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

and Bibelwerke ; and even 'moral earnestness and 
ecclesiastical position, in the work of Bishop Colenso, 
have lent their united force to these recent attacks on 
the Books of Moses. It seems the duty of those who 
are set for the defence of the truth, and who are aware 
how these assaults strike at the very foundation of the 
Christian faith, to provide some antidote for this great 
evil ; and to maintain, with candour and honesty, but 
with earnestness and zeal, the veracity of the Lord ot 
glory, and of His servant Moses, against the unbelieving 
criticism of these last days. 

In the present volume I shall confine myself to the 
one subject of the Exodus from Egypt, the most recent 
object of negative and sceptical criticism. My aim will 
be to examine, as briefly as is consistent with thorough 
and searching discussion, the objections which have 
lately been brought against its truth on internal 
grounds. May it please the Spirit of truth to guide and 
bless this humble effort to vindicate the honour of God's 
holy word, and render it a means of strengthening 
the faith of his people against the strong temptations of 
these last days. 



B2 



THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE NUMBEK OF JACOB'S FAMILY. 

1. The sacred history of the Sojourn in Egypt, and of 
the Exodus, begins naturally with the record in Gren. xlvi. 
of the descent of Jacob's family. The account is in 
these words. 

" And these are the names of the children of Israel, 
which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons : Reuben, 
Jacob's firstborn. And the sons of Reuben ; Hanoch, 
and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. And the sons 
of Simeon ; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and 
Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish 
woman. And the sons of Levi ; Gershon, Kohath, 
and Merari. And the sons of Judah : Er, and Onan, 
and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah : but Er and Onan 
died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez 
were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar ; 
Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. And the 
sons of Zebulun ; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 
These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto 
Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter Dinah : all 
the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty 
and three. 

'' And the sons of Grad ; Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni 
and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. And the sons 
of Asher ; Jimnah and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, 
and Serah their sister : and the sons of Beriah ; Heber, 



THE NUMBER OF JACOB'S FAMILY. 5 

and Malcliiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom 
Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she hare 
unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 

" The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife ; Joseph, and Ben- 
jamin. And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were 
born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the 
daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him. 
And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, 
and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, 
Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. These are the sons 
of Rachel, which were born to Jacob : all the souls 
were fourteen. 

" And the sons of Dan ; Hushim. And the sons of 
Naphtali ; Jahzeel, and Gruni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 
These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto 
Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob : 
all the souls were seven. 

" All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, 
which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' 
wives, all the souls were threescore and six ; and the 
sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were 
two souls : all the souls of the house of Jacob_, which 
came into Egypt, were threescore and ten." 

2. No passage, one would suppose, could offer clearer 
signs of being a genuine narrative of the real descent 
of Jacob's family into Egypt. The treatment it has 
received, however, not only from the assailants, but 
from the defenders of the Mosaic authorship, has been 
rather strange. Yon Bohlen affirms that " the account 
is evidently a pure fiction, and belongs to the class 
which may fitly be termed astrological." The fact that 
most of the names reappear as the actual names of 
Jewish tribes and families down to the times of Ezra, 
seems to be wholly forgotten. Scott, Hengstenberg 
and Kurtz, on the other hand, to relieve the difficulty 



6 , THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL, 

about two names, maintain the correctness of tlie list 
by sacrificing its distinctive character ; and, in spite 
of an express statement, thrice repeated, affirm that 
it is not a list of those who went down to Egy]3t, 
but of heads of families, whether they were born in 
Egypt or Canaan. The Bishop of Natal argues, with 
ranch force, that this contradicts the text. But he 
proceeds to infer, from the mention of Hezron and 
Ilamul, who in his judgment must have been born 
later, not merely that there is a slight license or 
inaccuracy — the only just inference from his own 
premises — but that the record is v\^holly fictitious and 
unhistorical. This is made the first proof that the 
Pentateuch " contains such remarkable contradictions, 
and involves such impossibilities, that it cannot be 
regarded as a true narrative of actual historical matters 
of fact ;" and that, " those who maintain its authenticity 
and historical character are compelled to depart here 
from the principles of honest and truthful exposition." 

The text requires, then, here a double vindication, 
from direct attack, and from the confusion produced by 
a line of defence, which contradicts its own clear and 
repeated statement. The object of the passage is defined 
four or ^YQ times in succession. " They took their cattle, 
and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of 
Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed 
with him. His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters 
and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with 
him into Egypt." The list then begins with the words, 
" These are the names of the children of Israel which 
came into Egypt." In the one case of exception, the 
place of birth is noted, — " Unto Joseph, in the land of 
Egypt, were born Manasseh and Ephraim." We have 
then the double statement at the close, — " All the souls 
that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of 



THE NUMBEE OF JACOB'S FAMILY. 7 

his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were 
threescore and six." " And the sons of Joseph, which 
were born him in Egypt, were two souls : all the souls 
of the house of JacoU, which came into Egypt, were 
threescore and ten." It seems impossible for words 
to make it plainer that the list is not an abstract 
genealogy, or a list of grandsons born anywhere, or at 
any time, but a list of Jacob's family, male and female, 
at the time of the Descent. The opposite view of Kurtz 
and Hengstenberg, in seeking to remove a slight diffi- 
culty, creates another far greater, and does violence to 
the repeated declarations of the sacred historian. 

3. The reasons offered by these learned writers for 
their lax interpretation are quite insufficient, and the 
reply of the Bishop of Natal (P. E., pp. 22-28) is 
mainly just. 

(1.) " Reuben, when Jacob's sons wished to take their 
last journey, had no more than two sons. This is 
evident from xlii. 37, Slay my two sons, if I briny 
liim not to thee. If he had several, he would have 
made the offer of several. But in xlvi. 9, four are 
mentioned. Two of them, therefore, must have been 
born in Egypt." (Hengst. ii., p. 290.) 

This argument admits of a double answer. First, 
Reuben's words were spoken when they returned from 
Egypt the first time, and more than a year seems 
to have elapsed before the final descent. Hence two 
sons might plainly be born in the interval, either as 
twins or in succession. 

Again, the words of Reuben cannot really prove 
that he had only two sons, even when they were uttered. 
He was then forty-four years of age, and, from the 
history of his sin, it is likely that he had been married 
about twenty-one years. His two eldest, then, might 
very possibly be twenty and eighteen years of age, 



8 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

while Benjamin was only twenty-three or twenty-four 
years. In Reuben's offer, then, of two sons, both of them 
near the age of manhood, there was a congruity to the 
request he made, which would not apply to mere in- 
fants, or to sons comparatively immature in age. The 
true inference from the text seems to be, that two of 
his sons were now nearly grown up, and might thus be 
naturally placed in the same rank with the youthful 
Benjamin. This merely brings to light, then, the 
secret harmony and consistency of the narrative. 

(2.) " The representation of Benjamin as a youth is 
so fixed and constant, that it could not enter the 
thoughts of an Israelite that on his going down to 
Egypt he had ten sons. Compare xhii. 8, xliv. 30, 31, 33, 
xliii. 29." (Hengst. ii., p. 290.) 

Since Benjamin was at least fourteen years younger 
than Joseph, and twenty years younger than Reuben, 
and fondly cherished by his father from his infancy, 
the general terms in the history can have no force to 
set aside the plain statement, that he had ten sons at 
the Descent, or the certain inference from his age of 
twenty-five years, that their previous birth was quite 
possible. But let us examine the matter more closely. 

It appears, from xxx. 21-24, that Dinah and Joseph 
must have been within a few months of the same age. 
The former, from the early age of puberty in the East, 
need not have been more than fourteen years old, 
when the mournful catastrophe at Shechem occurred. 
The birth of Benjamin followed, apparently, a few 
weeks later, so that he might be an infant of three 
years when Joseph was sold into Egypt, At the time 
of the Descent, therefore, he might be twenty-five 
years of age. Being, in the view of Jacob, the only 
surviving son of Rachel, it is most natural that his 
marriage would be as early as i30ssible. The name of 



THE NUMBER OF JACOB'S FAMILY. 9 

Benjamin's first-born, Bela, devoured or swallowed up, 
was probably given in reference to the fate of Joseph, 
for whom he would be held to be a substitute in the 
genealogy, until the latter was discovered to be still 
alive. From, the age of nineteen to twenty-five, apart 
from twins or double marriage, seven or even eight 
sons might be born, for the list itself proves that 
there were only male births. But the names are 
so grouped as to make it probable that there were 
two or three pairs of twins, a similar arrangement 
being found in the case of Gad only. " The sons of 
Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel ; Grera 
and Naaman ; Ehi and Rosh ; Muppim and Huppim and 
Ard." Assuming, then, that Gera and Naaman were 
twins, and also Ehi and Eosh, there w^ll be only eight 
distinct births, or seven intervals, which, reckoned 
backward from twenty-five years, at ten months, would 
give 19y. 2m. for his age at the earliest birth. But 
the history implies that Joseph's fortieth year was 
partly current at the time of the Descent, and there is 
the farther possibility of a second marriage, or of 
Muppim and Huppim being twins also. It is thus plain 
that Benjamin might, in the usual course of nature, 
have ten sons already when the Descent occurred. 

(3.) " According to xliii. 8, the family consisted of 
Jacob, his sons, and their little ones. But in the 
genealogy Jacob's grandchildren are mentioned as 
having children. It cannot, therefore, have been the 
author's design to restrict himself exactly to the point of 
time when the children of Israel entered Egypt." (ii.291.) 

The reply to this is very clear. The term, little ones, 
would include grandchildren or great-grandchildren, if 
they were actually born, and in that case only. The 
difficulty from Judah's grandchildren will be presently 
considered. Those of Asher, Heber and Malchiel, are 



10 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

no difficulty at all. For Aslier was then forty years 
old, and probably a little more, since some montlis 
might elapse between Joseph's message and the Des- 
cent, and two years of famine were then over. Hence, 
if Beriah were the first-born of Asher, the birth of two 
sons before the Descent is quite consistent with pro- 
bability. And even if he were the fourth in order of 
birth, we have only to suppose Asher nineteen years 
old at the birth of his first-born, and Beriah to have 
twins at the same age, and the presence of Heber and 
Malchiel in the liat will be explained. The fact that 
only four of that generation are in the list, when the 
age of all the patriarchs was so nearly the same, and 
the increase was rapid for several generations, implies 
that there was something exceptional in both cases. 

(4.) "In Num. xxvi., not a single grandson is 
mentioned, besides those whose names are given in 
Gen. xlvi. But this can hardly be explained if there 
the going down into Egypt is taken as the precise 
terminus. Were no other sons born to Jacob's sons in 
Egypt?" (Hengst. ii., 291.) 

The answer to this remark, in ^' The Pentateuch 
Examined/' is certainly insufficient. It is some pre- 
sumption, at first sight, in favour of the latitude which 
Hengstenberg and Kurtz assume, that no other grand- 
sons of Jacob appear to be named in the later his- 
tories. Since the youngest patriarch was then only 
twenty-five, and the eldest only forty-five, and there 
was a peculiar promise of rapid increase, it would 
seem strange if Jochebed, a daughter of Levi, almost 
a century later, were the only child who was born to 
the twelve in Egypt. This difficulty lies with some 
force against the view taken in the Bishop's work, that 
these were all the grandsons, and all of them born in 
Canaan. But it has nearly equal force against the 



THE NUMBER OF JACOB'S FAMILY. 11 

opinion tliat they were all the grandchildren, born 
either in Canaan or in Egypt. It will appear, I think, 
hereafter, that there is a strong presumption against 
the correctness of either view. But the law of the 
genealogies will need to be examined presently, in con- 
nection with difficulties usually held to be more serious, 
and harder to remove. 

4. The second premise in the Bishop's objection, that 
Kezron and Hamul could not be already born at the 
time of the Descent, though some able critics deny it, 
is one which I believe, from the tenor of the history, to 
be highly probable, and almost certain. The age of 
Judah, who was about three years older than Joseph, 
would now be forty-two years. But Shelah, his third 
son by the daughter of Shuah, was already grown up 
and marriageable, a year before the birth of Pharez 
and Zarah. We can scarcely allow less than thirty- 
eight years, then, for the age of Judah at that time, 
and the twins could not be much more than three 
years old at the time of the Descent in Joseph's 
fortieth year. Or otherwise, since Shelah could hardly 
be reckoned grown up, and causelessly withheld from 
marriage, before the age of 18, if Hezron and Hamul 
were born before the Descent, the united ages of Judah 
and Pharez at their marriages would be barely 21 years ; 
and Judah's marriage must have been six or seven 
years before Dinah's sin, and long before Jacob had 
come near to AduUam. 

How, then, after admitting both the premises on 
which it rests, can we meet the objection from the 
words of the twelfth verse ? " And the sons of Judah ; 
Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah : 
but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And 
the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul." The 
three numbers, thirty-three for Jacob and the sons of 



12 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

Leah, sixty-six for all, besides Jacob, who actually 
came iato Egypt, and seventy for the total family at 
the time, are made up, if either Er and Onan, or Hezron 
and Hamul, are included in the reckoning. If all are 
included or excluded, they are inexact. But since Er 
and Onan were dead, and Hezron and Hamul still 
unborn, this is held to be a sufficient warrant for con- 
signing the record, with its minute details and numerous 
references, to the category of incredible and impossible 
fictions ! Under some strange bias the gnat is strained 
out carefully, but the camel is swallowed, and the whole 
family of Jacob, by one of the recent objectors, is trans- 
formed boldly into a fiction of astrology. 

The explanation of Augustine and Yenema, which 
Hengstenberg and Kurtz adopt, but obscure its force by 
their own loose hypothesis, is a simple key to the difficulty. 
'' It is possible," says Yenema, " that the sons of 
Pharez, who were born in Egypt, are mentioned because 
they are substituted for the two sons of Judah, who died 
in Canaan. The historian clearly asserts as much ; and 
when he adds that the latter died in the land of 
Canaan, he plainly implies that the sons of Pharez, who 
were put in their place, had not been born there." 

This explanation results at once from the form of the 
sentence. Had the writer meant to include Hezron 
and Hamul among those who were born in Canaan, the 
natural order would have been, " And the sons of 
Judah ; Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah ; and the sons of 
Pharez, Hezron and Hamul. But Er and Onan died in 
the land of Canaan." By the actual order, Er and 
Onan are first included in the list of those who went 
down, as if still alive. Then, as soon as their death in 
Canaan is noticed, the names of Hezron and Hamul are 
introduced as replacing them ; with the view of ex- 
plaining why Er and Onan are not wholly excluded 



THE NUMBER OE JACOB'S FAMILY. 13 

from tlie list. Their name was not to be put out from 
tlie families of Israel ; and, though already deceased, 
their place among the seventy was to be speedily sup- 
plied, under the sacred law, by their two nephews. 

5. The objections brought against this explanation, 
only confirm its truth. 

(1.) "If Hezron and Hamul are substituted for Er 
and Onan, for whom are Heber and Malchiel, the sons 
of Beriah, supposed to be substituted ? And how is it 
that Hezron and Hamul, and not Zabdi and the other 
sons of Zarah, are mentioned ? Plainly because the 
former are supposed to have been born in the land of 
Canaan, and not the other." (P. E., p. 24.) 

The whole force of this remark depends on the 
hypothesis of Kurtz and Hengstenberg, that the list is 
not meant to be confined to those already born at the 
time of the Descent. On this view the mention of 
four great-grandsons, and of no others, must be quite 
arbitrary, since their total number must have been two 
hundred at least. On the present view, which abides 
simply by the words of the text, the remark is wholly 
futile. Heber and Malchiel are named because they 
were already born ; and Hezron and Hamul, because 
they were legal substitutes for Er and Onan, who were 
born twenty years before, and had died prematurely. 
The sons of Zarah are not named, because they were 
neither born at the time, nor legal substitutes for 
any others. 

This solution results immediately from the previous 
history. The law of substitution forms the basis of 
the whole account of Judah's incest. In its later form 
it provided that the name of one who died childless, 
but had been married, should be continued through his 
wife. Now Pharez and Zarah were sons of Judah, 
and thus heads of families in their own right. The 



14 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

principle of tlie law, since it conld not be carried out 
tlirough Tamar as a wife, must have transferred to her 
first-born, Pharez, the duty of raising up seed to his 
deceased uncles. Accordingly, Pharez is the eldest 
son of Tamar, Er's widow, and Hezron and Hamul are 
the eldest sons of Pharez. All is clear and consistent, 
when the facts are closely examined. 

6. We are thus led to the following conclusion. The 
actual numbers alive at the time, were thirty-one of 
Jacob and the sons of Leah, sixty-four, besides Jacob, 
who went down into Egypt, and sixty-eight the total, 
including Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. But 
Er and Onan, though previously dead, are not omitted 
in the reckoning, because they were virtually present 
in the person of Pharez, whose two unborn sons were 
shortly to replace them as the heads of two distinct 
families. The record implies this solitary departure 
from the literal and apparent fact, when it mentions all 
the four names, and the statement that Er and Onan 
were now dead introduces the names of their legal 
substitutes and successors. These names, also, are in- 
troduced in the form of an historical statement, with 
the substantive verb, which occurs nowhere besides in 
the whole list. " And Er and Onan died in the land 
of Canaan, and there were sons of Pharez, Hezron and 
Hamul." No such historical statement occurs elsewhere 
in the passage, for the other names, including the two 
grandsons of Asher, are a simple catalogue. Thus 
the exception from the general rule in these two grand- 
sons of Judah is doubly indicated, by the previous 
mention of Er and Onan as deceased, and by a 
minute variation in the phrase. And it is a curious 
fact, that the very first objection in the Pentateuch 
Examined begins with a minute, but really important 
misquotation ; and wholly omits the word, by which 



THE NUMBER OF JACOB'S FAMILY. 15 

these two persons are distinguished from all the 
others. 

7. One only difficulty remains to be considered, 
which seems to have escaped the notice of all these 
writers. In 1 Chron. viii. 1, we find mention only 
of five sons of Benjamin, Bela, Ashbel, Aharah, 
Nohah and Hapha, while Addar, Gera, Naaman and 
Shephuphan, with others, are called sons of Bela. 
Again, in Numbers xxvi., we have B.ye families first 
named, from Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, Shupham and 
Hupham ; and two others are added with the preface. 
And the sons of Bela^ Ard and Naaman, There seems 
here, then, at first sight, a strong presumption that 
some real grandsons of Benjamin are included, in 
Genesis, among his ten sons. In this case, they 
must evidently have been born in Egypt, after the 
time of the Descent. Also Bela has ten sons in Chro- 
nicies, while two only, Naaman and Ard, are mentioned 
in the Book of Numbers. 

These apparently conflicting statements may, how- 
ever, be reconciled in an easy way, without any 
departure from the natural meaning of the history in 
Genesis. Aharah, in Chronicles, is probably a clerical 
error for Ahiram, the name of the third family in 
Numbers, and this is simply a varied form of Ehi in 
Genesis. Let us now suppose that Becher, the second 
son, Gera, the fourth, and Bosh, the seventh, died early, 
before their marriage, and that Naaman and Ard died 
when married or marriageable, but childless. In this 
case, by the law of the Levirate, two sons of Bela, the 
firstborn, would probably replace them, and might also 
be named after those deceased uncles, whose legal 
substitutes they were. In this way all the three ac- 
counts appear to be simply and easily reconciled 
together. Even if we were not able to suggest a 



16 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

detailed solution, it would be most unreasonable, even 
in a mere human record, because of one difficulty, to deny 
the historical character and truth of an account which 
bears so many marks of exact and intimate knowledge. 

8. Before dismissing this topic, there are two further 
observations, which will disclose, in the seeming inac- 
curacy, a latent harmony of Divine wisdom and truth. 

Firsts the slight deviation from apparent accuracy, in 
this fundamental passage of the Old Covenant, whereby 
Er and Onan, though dead, or Hezron and Hamul, 
though unborn, are made to fill up the sacred number 
of seventy, has its exact counterpart in the first page 
of the New Testament, and in the fundamental genealogy 
of the Grospel. We there read, " So all the generations 
from Abraham to David are fourteen generations ; and 
from David to the carrying away into Babylon, four- 
teen generations *, and from the carrying away into 
Babylon to Christ are fourteen generations." Yet this 
historical symmetry is only produced by omitting three 
well-known names of kings of Judah between Joram 
and Uzziah, namely Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. 
Still further, there seems an evident principle, both in 
the insertion in Grenesis, and the omission in St. Mat- 
thew. The two names are inserted in agreement with 
the great principle, that death was not to blot out the 
names of the sons of Israel ; but that the next of kin, by 
raising up seed to the deceased, was to be the author- 
of a typical redemption from the power of death. In 
the other case, the names omitted are involved in the 
curse on the house of Ahab, and run parallel with the 
blessing to Jehu, by whom Ahab's family were de- 
stroyed. Both the curse under the law, and the blessing 
in that promise, were to " the third and fourth gene- 
ration," and three names are there omitted from the list 
of the ancestors of Messiah. 



THE NUMBER OP JACOB'S FAMILY. 17 

Again, we see in both cases the illustration of a 
double law of revelation, which runs through the 
whole word of God. Even the most abstract, didactic, 
and poetical parts of these Divine messages are con- 
stantly associated with some fact or circumstance, 
which is a pledge of their historical reality. On 
the other hand, their simplest and most unadorned 
narratives, and even the genealogies themselves, ex- 
hibit constantly some ideal element, which blends 
with the outward fact, and makes it the vehicle of 
some deeper and higher truth. The two genealogies 
in Genesis and Matthew are thus made to illustrate, 
indirectly, two great lessons of revelation. The dead 
are not wholly dead in God's reckoning, for " all 
live unto him ;" and He " visits the sins of the 
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth 
generation." But mercy still rejoices over judgment. 
The promise through Christ, the seed of Abraham, 
in spite of the sins of His forefathers after the flesh, 
is " unto a thousand generations ;" and ensures, for all 
the true Israel of God, the resurrection from the dead, 
and the life of the world to come. 



18 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SCRIPTURAL DATA OF THE EXODUS. 

9. The Mosaic narrative of the Exodus is open to 
objections of two kinds, internal and external. The 
former aim to prove that it involves historical improba- 
bilities, or actual contradictions. The latter affirm that 
it is disproved by the lists of Manetho^ and the Egyp- 
tian monuments ; or other materials of ancient history, 
which have been brought to light by the diligence of 
modern learning. Bishop Colenso's Pentateuch, and 
Baron Bunsen's Egypt, represent these two different 
lines of argument. 

Difficulties of the first kind are the most serious, and, 
if established, strike more directly at all genuine faith 
in the word of Grod. The Pentateuch may contradict 
Manetho, and even the sculptured remains of idolatrous 
Pharaohs, and still be true and Divine ; but if it con- 
tradicts itself, and contains historical impossibilities, its 
authority must perish. They may be ranked under two 
heads : the increase in Egypt, compared with the 
genealogies and the numbers at the Exodus ; and the 
actual events of the Exodus, till the entrance into the 
land of Canaan. The former occupy chaps, xiii.-xxi. 
of Bishop Colenso's work, and depend on the union of 
two data, the time of the Sojourn, and the number at 
the Exodus. The latter occupy chaps, iv.-xii., xxi. 
and xxii., and depend mainly on the second of these 
data aloae. 



THE SCRIPTURAL DATA OF THE EXODUS. 19 

The Scriptural length of the Sojourn, deduced by the 
best chronologers, from Josephus down to Usher and 
Clinton, by a comparison of Exod. xii. 40, 41, Gen. xv. 
13, Acts vii. 6, Grab iii. 17, and other places, is 215 
years ; an equal interval having elapsed from the 
Call of Abraham to the Descent of Jacob, and the two 
forming a total of 430 years. The number of adult males 
at the Exodus, and also at the entrance of Canaan, 
deduced from Exod. xii. 37, xxxviii. 26, Num. i. 46, 
ii. 32, xi. 21, xxvi. 51, and the connected passages, is 
rather more than six hundred thousand. These two 
data, when combined, are the basis of the former class 
of objections to the narrative. Each of them, however, 
has been called in question by some advocates of the 
Pentateuch. The majority of modern critics in Ger- 
many, including Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Havernick, and 
many others, reckon the sojourn in Egypt after the 
descent of Jacob at 430 years. Others, again, have 
proposed to relieve the difficulty from the great in- 
crease of the people by the hypothesis of a general cor- 
ruption of the numbers, by which they have been 
raised to ten times their true amount ; so that the males 
at the Exodus, in every case but that of Levi and the 
first-born, were ten times less than they appear to be 
in the present text. It is necessary, then, to clear the 
ground by examining these lines of defence, before 
entering on the difficulties alleged to exist, when both 
of the main data of the sacred history are received. 

10. The words of Exod. xii. 40, admit naturally of 
the version — " The sojourning of the children of Israel, 
which they sojourned in Egypt, was 430 years." In 
this case they would seem, at first sight, to imply that 
the whole period had elapsed since the descent of Jacob. 
The received version, " who dwelt in Egypt," though 
grammatically possible, seems rather less natural, and 

c 2 



20 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

has been adopted to avoid putting a sense on the text, 
disproved by the evidence of other Scriptures. The 
reasons, however, for dating the period earher, from the 
Gall of Abraham, or at least from his hfetime, seem 
quite decisive. First, St. Paul, Gral. iii. 17, states that 
the Law was given 430 years after the promise to 
Abraham. The words of Josephus shew that this 
was the construction of the text among the Jews 
of the first century. " They left Egypt," he says, 
"430 years after our forefather Abraham came into 
Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob removed 
into Egypt." The Septuagint translators read the 
verse, in the Yatican MS., '' The sojourning of the 
children of Israel, which they sojourned in Egypt and 
in the land of Canaan, was 430 years." And in the 
Alexandrian, *' Which they and their fathers sojourned 
in Egypt and in the land of Canaan." So also the 
Samaritan : " The sojourning of the children of Israel 
and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land 
of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was 430 years." 

The slight variations in these copies, amid their sub- 
stantial agreement, seem to shew that they did not 
arise from any different Hebrew reading, but are early 
comments, or explanations of what was held, almost 
universally, to be the true scope of the sacred text. In 
fact, the evidence in proof of this construction is short 
and decisive. Amram, the father of Moses, was the 
son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and he '^took him 
Jochebed his father's sister to wife " (Exod. vi. 20). 
The statement is still fuller in Num. xxvi. 59 : "And 
the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter 
of Levi, whom her mother bore to Levi in Egypt : and 
she bore unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam 
their sister." Now since Levi was forty-three years 
old at the Descent, and Aaron eighty-three at the 



THE SCRH'TURAL DATA OF THE EXODUS. 21 

Exodus, tlie shorter period of 21e5 years leaves 175 
from the birth of Levi to that of Aaron, to be shared 
between the age of Levi at the birth of his daughter, 
and that of Jochebed at the birth of Aaron. This is 
clearly itself at the limit of historical probability. If 
we add 215 years, we should have to divide 390 years 
between the two generations, which is wholly in- 
credible. The genealogy of Amram himself, of 
Korah, Elisheba, Naashon, and Bezaleel, all point to 
the same conclusion, and make it impossible to accept a 
stay of 430 years after the descent of Jacob, without 
falsifying or largely interpolating every genealogy 
without exception. 

11. The passage in Gen. xv. 13, 16 is a further proof 
of the shorter period. It assigns a term of 400 years for 
the affliction and bondage of the seed of Abraham in a 
strange land, and predicts their return to Canaan in 
the fourth generation. By the longer reckoning, the 
return from Egypt would be in the fifth generation, 
even if we were to admit the protracted estimate of a 
century for a generation. By a standard of seventy 
years, or of a moderate lifetime, it would be the seventh 
and by the reckoning of three to a century, the thir- 
teenth or fourteenth generation. 

On the other hand, if we date the 430 years from the 
Call of Abraham, the agreement of the passages is com- 
plete. There will then be 405 years from the birth of 
Isaac, or almost exactly 400 years from the feast, 
Gen. xxi. 8-13, a cardinal event in the sacred history 
(Rom. ix. 12, Gal. iv. 28-30), to the year of the 
Exodus. Again, the predicted term of the fourth 
generation would be fulfilled, not only in the particular 
case of Moses and Aaron, and in some others of the 
elders, but in a more general way. Seventy years was 
already the standard of human life at the tinie of 



22 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

tlie Exodus (Ps. xc. 10). With this standard, three 
generations wo aid close five years before the Exodus ; 
and both the Exodus itself, and the return to Canaan, 
the more exact subject of the prediction, would be 
within the fourth generation. Again, the interval 
from the birth of Abraham to that of Reuben is 
100 + 60 + 85 = 245 years, and from the birth of 
Isaac to that of Kohath or Pharez, 60 + 130 = 190 
years nearly, for three generations complete. By the 
former estimate, the return to Canaan, and by the latter, 
both the Exodus and the journey through the wilder- 
ness, would take place in the fourth generation. 

12. The true key to the form of the phrase in Exod. 
xii. 40, is probably to be found in the double principle, 
that the word of Grod recognises the closest unity, 
especially in the chosen seed, between the parents and 
the children, and also that God reckons the trials of His 
jDCople by their fullest measure. Thus the 400 years of 
Gen. XV. date, not from the bondage, but from the 
lighter affliction, first named, of their sojourning in a 
strange land, or from the weaning of Isaac onward. 
Now Abraham went down to Egypt, and sojourned 
there, apparently in the very year of his first removal 
to Canaan. The history of that briefer sojourn is like 
a type and anticipation of what was to befall his pos- 
terity. As Levi is said by the Apostle to have paid 
tithes in Abraham, so the sojourning of the children of 
Israel in Egypt virtually began in his person also. 
Thus, both at the Descent and the Exodus, the details of 
historical fact are modified by the presence of an ideal 
element. Sixty-eight souls of Jacob's family were 
actually alive at the time ; but the sacred number, 
seventy, is completed by Er and Onan, who, although 
dead, were not to be extinct, but to be replaced by 
Hezron and Hamul according to a Divinely appointed 



THE SCKIPTUKAL DATA OF THE EXODUS. 23 

law of substitution Again, the actual sojourning in 
Egypt, from the Descent, was 215 years. But the chil- 
dren of Israel are reckoned to have sojourned there, 
virtually, in the person of Abraham, whose sojourn was a 
type and prophecy of their own, and the feature which 
belonged to the greater part of the interval is thus 
transferred to the whole. In both cases Scripture sup- 
plies its own key, and fuller search converts a 
seeming difficulty or slight inaccuracy into a lesson of 
deepest moral significance. 

13. The other view, which would reduce the number 
at the Exodus from six hundred thousand to sixty 
thousand, requires only a passing notice, since it is 
opposed to all the external evidence of manuscripts and 
versions, and would relieve a supposed difficulty by 
recourse to arbitrary conjecture alone. 

The actual numbers are given, with mutual accord- 
ance, in no less than fifty or sixty texts. The idea of 
systematic corruption, in all these places, is plainly 
loaded with the most extreme improbability. We have 
no proof that, in the earliest times, the numbers would 
be written by marks only, which is the only hypothesis 
that could diminish the presumption against so sweep- 
ing and extensive a change. Its immediate efiect is to 
abolish at once- nine-tenths of the successive facts, as 
they are now recorded in the word of God. On this 
ground alone it seems impossible to accept so violent a 
remedy for imaginary difficulties in the sacred history. 

But another argument in disproof of this view is 
still more decisive. We read, in Exod. xxx. 11-16, that 
when the children of Israel were numbered, every male 
from twenty years upward was to give a half shekel 
for '^ a ransom for their soul." In xxxviii. 25-28, 
we have the record of the fulfilment of this command. 
These half shekels, from 600,000 numbered males. 



24 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

made 100 talents of silver, from which were cast ^' a 
hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a 
socket." Again, the overplus of 3,550 names gave 
1,775 shekels, with which " he made hooks for the 
pillars, and overlaid their chapiters and filleted them." 
In this way the number of the people was embodied 
and inwrought into the very structure of the taber- 
nacle, and cannot be set aside without tearing in pieces 
the inmost texture of the whole history. When to 
these reasons we add the further evidence, almost 
equally forcible, of Num. xi. 21-23, and Deut. x. 22, 
the statement of Num. xxv. 9, repeated in 1 Cor. x. 8, 
that from twenty-three to twenty-four thousand fell in 
the plague for the sin of Baal Peor, and of Joshua iv. 13, 
that about forty thousand passed over Jordan from the 
two and a half tribes alone, the hypothesis of a tenfold 
change in the numbers from the original text must be 
wholly set aside, as alike opposed to the external and 
the internal evidence. 

It remains, then, to examine the true results from 
the text of Scripture, as it now stands. We must 
inquire whether the objections which have been raised 
against its consistency are, indeed, like the sons of 
Anak, so strong and invincible, that we must renounce 
the truth of all Divine revelation, and travel back 
into the Egyptian darkness of a world abandoned to 
vain philosophy and foul idolatry, unvisited by any 
real messages from the God of heaven. 



THE INCREASE OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 25 



CHAPTER III. 

THE INCREASE OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 

14. One main objection to tlie Scripture account of 
tlie Exodus, whicli has been urged fifty times, and is 
renewed with fresh confidence in Dr. Colenso's work, 
is drawn from the vast increase of the numbers of the 
people. "It can be shewn," it is said, "without a 
doubt, that it is quite impossible there should have 
been such a number of Israel in Egypt at the time of 
the Exodus as to have furnished 600,000 warriors in 
the prime of life, or two millions of persons of all ages 
and sexes, if we will take the data to he derived from 
the Pentateuch itself T—i^. E., § 115.) 

This is a plain and simple issue. I believe, on the 
contrary, that if this condition be truly fulfilled, and 
we will take the data derived from the Pentateuch itself, 
assigning to each its proper weight, this popular and 
oft-repeated objection may be shewn to be wholly 
groundless, and to have no better foundation than 
the blindness of hasty and superficial criticism. 

15. First of all, in what light does the historian 
himself represent this great increase ? Does he teach 
us to view it as an ordinary event, of which the reality 
is to be tested by its agreement with the usual progress 
of families or nations ? Or does he represent it, though 
not directly miraculous, as a signal exception to the 
usual rate of increase, and a result of the special blessing 



26 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

of the God of Israel ? The following texts are an 
answer to this inquiry : — 

" And when Abram was ninety-and-nine years old, 
the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, I am the 
Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 
And I will make my covenant between me and thee, 
and will multiply thee exceedingly. Neither shall thy 
name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall 
be Abraham (father of a great multitude) ; for a father 
of many nations have I made thee. And I will make 
thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, 
and kings shall come out of thee." Gen. xvii. 1-6. 

" By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because 
thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy 
son, thine only son ; that in blessing I will bless thee, 
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars 
of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore." 
Gen. xxii. 16, 17. 

" And the Lord appeared unto Isaac, and said, ... I 
will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy 
father ; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the 
stars of heaven." xxvi. 2-4. 

^' And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and said, 
. . . And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee 
fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou maj^est be a mul- 
titude of people." xxviii. 1-3. 

"And the Lord said, I am Jehovah, the God of 
Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; the land 
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed ; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth." 
xxviii. 12-14. 

This promise is pleaded by Jacob in prayer, on his 
return to Canaan — " And thou saidst, I will surely do 
ihee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, 
which cannot be numbered for multitude." xxxii. 12. 



THE INCKEASE OF ISKAEL IN EGYPT. 27 

It is repeated to him at Bethel : " I am God Almighty : 
be fruitful and multiply ; a nation and a company of 
nations shall be of thee." xxxv. 11. Once more, on 
his descent to Egypt, it is renewed, with fixed condi- 
tions of time and place : " I am Grod, the God of thy 
father: fear not to go down into Egypt: for I will there 
MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION : I will go down with thee 
into Egypt ; and I will also surely bring thee up again." 
xlvi. 3, 4, There was a further extension of it, still 
later, in the blessing on the sons of Joseph, and the 
prophetic prayer, " Let them grow, as fishes do 
increase, in the midst of the earth." xlviii. 16. 

The fulfilment of these repeated promises is noted in 
the same emphatic way. And first, even before the 
death of Joseph, — " Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in 
the country of Goshen ; and they had possessions 
therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly." Gen. 
xlvii. 27. Next, immediately after his death: "And 
Joseph died, arid all his brethren, and all that generation. 
And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased 
abundantly^ and multiplied, and waxed exceeding 
mighty ; and the land was filled with them." Ex. i. 
6, 7. "" The more they afflicted them, the more they 
multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because 
of the children of Israel." i. 12. A fourth and last 
mention of the same fact occurs just before the birth of 
Moses : " Therefore God dealt well with the midwives : 
and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty." 
i. 20. In the view^ then, of the historian himself, the 
increase of the people, from the Descent to the Birth of 
Moses, was constant, singular, and unusual, the fulfil- 
ment of repeated promises, and of a solemn oath of 
Almighty God. 

The allusions after the event are of the same kind : 
" I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able 



28 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

to bear you myself alone : tlie Lord your God hath 
multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars 
of heaven for multitude. The Lord God of your 
fathers make you a thousand times so many more as 
ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you." Deut. 
i. 9-11. "He is thy Praise, and he is thy God, who 
hath done for thee these great and terrible things, 
which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down 
to Egypt with threescore and ten persons ; and now the 
Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven 
for multitude." x. 21, 22. This rapid increase was 
even appointed, by the express command of God, to be 
a lasting subject of adoring and grateful praise in later 
generations. " And thou shalt speak and say before 
the Lord thy God, A. Syrian ready to perish was thy 
father ; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned 
there with a few, and became there a nation, great, 
mighty, and populous.^' xxvi. 5. 

Thus it is plain that, if the increase in Egypt were 
of a usual and ordinary kind, the Pentateuch would 
contradict its own repeated statements, and a series of 
often-repeated promises of God to the patriarchs would 
have failed. The whole record of Divine messages, 
from Gen. xii. to Deut. xxvi., would then be convicted 
of exaggeration and falsehood. On the other hand, 
we have no hint that this increase was properly 
miraculous, or involved any contradiction to the fixed 
and usual laws of birth, puberty, and marriage. The 
peculiarity was to be the constancy, on the large scale, 
of a degree of fertility, of which solitary examples would 
have caused little or no surprise. 

16. The increase in Egypt, then, if the Pentateuch 
is a true and inspired narrative, ought plainly to satisfy 
two opposite conditions. It must greatly exceed the 
ordinary and average rate of family and national in- 



THE INCREASE OF ISRAEL IK EGYPT. 29 

crease, and still lie far within the limit of what is 
possible, without a direct miracle, by the usual laws 
of human fecundity. How do the numbers endure this 
double test ? 

This question may be answered in several ways. 
The simplest is to compare the average yearly rate 
of increase, as implied in the text, and as it would result 
from these two opposite limits. 

The population of England and Wales, from 1801 
to 1861, grew almost exactly from eight to twenty mil- 
lions, or in the ratio of two to five. Dividing, then, 
the logarithm of 2i by 60, we obtain 1.01539 for 
the yearly rate of increase, or rather more than \\ 
per cent. In the last decade, it grew, almost exactly, 
from 17 to 20 millions, which gives a slightly higher 
rate of 1.016385, or nearly If per cent. During these 
years, however, there has been an extensive emigra- 
tion. The rate is estimated by Dr. Colenso at 1.23 
for the last ten years, when allowance for emigration 
has been made. This gives a yearly rate of 1.02092, 
or slightly more than 2 per cent. Hence this latter 
rate, or 2 per cent., may be assumed, under favourable 
circumstances, even in a highly advanced, civilized, and 
well-peopled country, to be a usual and natural rate of 
annual increase. 

Again, it is plainly quite possible, in an individual 
case, that the same person may have ten sons and as 
many daughters. Assuming, then, the birth of ten 
sons between 25 and 35 years of age, and as many 
daughters, born earlier or later, there would plainly 
be a tenfold increase every thirty years, or ten million 
times in 210 years. By this extreme rate, fifty pro- 
genitors, in 210 years, would have a male progeny of 
250 millions ; or, taking the yearly rate, it is 1.07977, 
or almost exactly eight per cent. 



30 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

Let US now turn to the numbers in Exodus. Assum- 
ing that all the numbered males were strictly de- 
scendants from the fifty-one grandsons at the Descent, 
we have 19 years before the Exodus, a distance of 
196 years, for the limit of their birth. Supposing the 
mortality, until the Exodus, to be one in ten, or two- 
thirds of the usual average, the total number of males 
already born w^ill be 660,000. It results from these 
numbers that the yearly rate of increase will be 
1*049493, or almost exactly ^ve per cent. Thus it 
appears, finally, that the yearly increase, in the Scrip- 
ture narrative, lies almost exactly midway between two 
opposite limits, the rate under ordinary circumstances, 
and the extreme rate compatible with the usual laws of 
birth, marriage, and natural fecundity. 

17. The same conclusion may be reached in another 
way. Instead of ten, an extreme number, let us assume 
an average of only six sons, the age of the father vary- 
ing from 25 to 35 years. Six descents would thus 
range from 150 to 210 years. The total number of 
male births, within these limits, from 51 persons, would 
plainly be 66 x 51 = 2,379,456. The interval for those 
who were 20 years old one year after the Exodus, 
will be 196 years from the Descent, or more than 200 
from the birth of the grandsons. We have thus to 
deduct from the above the births in the last ten years, 
which would be about 51 x 210 = 10,710, Thus, at 
the above rate, there would be a population of 2,369,000 
males above twenty in the sixth descent alone. But 
the fifth descent would yield 396,576 and the seventh 
descent nearly two millions within the limit, supposing 
the births to be at mean intervals of two years. There 
would thus be a total of 4,700,000, or deducting one- 
seventh for the deaths in 20 years, more than four 
millions, which is seven times the number in Exodus. 



I 



THE INCREASE OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 31 

Again, let us assume an average of five sons, ranging 
evenly between the ages of 24 and 36 years. We 
shall have, from 51 parents, the total number of the 
fifth, sixth, and seventh descents 159,375 ; 796,875 ; and 
3,984,375. All of the first, nearly all of the second, 
and many of the third total, would fall within the limit. 
The total thus found will be 159,375 + 773,619 
4- 918,000 = 1,850,994, or just three times the number 
in the actual history. 

The calculation may also be made in the reverse 
way. From the history in Genesis, the probable ave- 
rage of the patriarchs, at the birth of their 51 sons, 
excluding the four grandsons, is about 29 years. The 
mean age of these sons would probably exceed seven 
years. Assuming this average, 196 + 7 = 203 =7x29, 
or the interval to the limit before the Exodus is exactly 
seven descents of the same length. But one-half the 
total births would plainly fall before, and one-half 
after this limit, when 29 years is the mean age. 
Hence log. 1207100 - log. 51 -r- 7 = 6.0817432 - 
1.7075702 -f- 7 = .6248819 = log. 4.2158, the required 
rate of increase in each descent to produce the Scrip- 
tural number. But 12 x 4.2158 = 50.58, which corre- 
sponds as closely as possible with the recorded increase 
from 12 to 51 in that first generation, and falls very 
slightly below it. We have thus merely to suppose the 
same rate of male increase and average age at birth 
continued, and the sacred numbers will result, almost 
with mathematical accuracy, from the data the Pen- 
tateuch itself supplies in the case of the sons and grand- 
sons of Jacob, at the time when the Sojourn in Egypt 
begun. 



32 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER lY. 

THE EXODUS IN THE FOURTH GENERATION". 

18. The prophecy in G-en. xv. assigns a double limit 
for the future Exodus of the seed of Abraham, four 
hundred years, and the fourth generation. The term 
of years is simply explained by a comparison with the 
number in Exodus, which reads literally, " The stay of 
the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt," or^ " which 
they dwelt in Egypt, was thirty and four hundred 
years." The vision was given within the first thirty 
years from the Call, during which period the descent 
of Abraham himself into Egypt occurred. These would 
expire ^^^q years after the birth of Isaac, in whom 
the promise began to be fulfilled, or just after the close 
of his mere infancy, when the mockery of Ishmael 
began the course of predicted suffering and persecution. 
Gen. xxi. 9-12; Eom. ix. 7, 8; Gal. iv. 28-30. The 
period, then, is measured from the first clause, which 
announces the sojourning, and not from the commence- 
ment of the bondage, which lasted, at most, 144 
years. 

The other limit, the fourth generation, is more am- 
biguous. It may be reckoned either from the time of 
the vision, or from the actual descent into Egypt. The 
term, generation^ may denote either a succession from 
father to son, or else an actual or an average lifetime. 
In modern times, when an average descent from father 



I 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOURTH GENERATION. 33 

to son is very nearly half a full lifetime, it is nsnally 
taken to denote the former interval, or that from the 
birth of a parent to the birth of his son. Its 
natural sense, however, is a race of contemporaries, 
or an average lifetime. Thus, in the case before us, 
a generation would be nearly equivalent to two de- 
scents, and not to one only. 

On this view either point of commencement will lead 
to the same conclusion, and place the Exodus, or rather 
the Return to Canaan, in the fourth generation. As- 
suming the earlier origin, the first generation will be 
that of Abraham himself, and will reach from the Call to 
his death exactly one century later. Jacob was then 
already 15 years old. The second generation will be 
that of Jacob, and will reach from the death of 
Abraham to his own death, a space of 132 years. The 
third generation will be that of Kohath, who was 18 
years old, or a little more, at the death of Jacob, and 
lived to the age of 133 years. It will thus be 115 years. 
The fourth generation will be that of Aaron and his 
contemporaries. He was 83 years old at the Exodus, 
and would be born, on the above reckoning, in the year 
after the death of Kohath, since 100 + 132 + 115 + 
83 = 430 years. 

But the generations may also be reckoned from the 
Descent, taking for a key the lives of Joseph, the 
most prominent actor at the time, and of Moses and 
Aaron, under whom the Exodus occurred. At the 
time of the descent Joseph was 39 years old, and he 
survived till 110 years. This interval of 71 years is a 
first generation, and is so defined in the sacred text : 
" And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that 
generation." The second will be that of Amram, the 
father of Moses, and will reach through 70 years also, 
to the birth and infancy of Moses and Aaron, A third 

D 



34 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL, 

generation will be the 70 years of their life and that of 
their contemporaries, till near the Exodus ; while the 
fourth will be that of Eleazar and Joshua, and their 
contemporaries, and will include the journey through 
the wilderness, and the actual conquest of Canaan. 

Again, we find from Psa. xc. 10 that seventy years 
was already, in the days of Moses, a recognised and ac- 
cepted length of human life. Applying this at once to the 
case before us, the Sojourn in Egypt is plainly three com- 
plete generations, with an excess of ^ve years. If we 
assume, also, the number of twenty-five years in Josephus 
as exact, for the life of Joshua after crossing Jordan, 
we find 5 + 40 + 25 = 70, and a fourth generation will 
close punctually with the completion of the conquest, 
and Joshua's death. And this reckoning finds an 
express confirmation in Jud. ii. 7-10 : " And the people 
served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days 
of the elders that overlived Joshua, who had seen all 
the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel. And 
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, 
being a hundred and ten years old. . . . And all that 
generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there 
arose another generation after them." This was, there- 
fore, the fourth and last generation of Abraham's vision. 

19. This phrase, the fourth generation, in Gen. 
XV. 16, receives an opposite construction in Baron 
Bunsen's Egypt, and Dr. Colenso's Pentateuch. The 
former holds a generation to mean evidently " an en- 
tire century," and infers that the notes of time in 
Genesis and Exodus are " conventional," and have no 
historical truth or value. The latter assumes that it 
means a descent from father to son, so that the adult 
males of the Exodus were to be, mainly, in the fourth 
descent from the Patriarchs. From this construction 
be draws the inference that the history in the Book of 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOUETH GENERATION. 35 

Exodus is wholly false and incredible; while Baron 
Bun sen, rating the generation at three times this 
length, uses it to overthrow the Scripture chronology. 
The mean of these values, or 66f years, would be a 
near approach to the truth, and satisfies the historical 
conditions ; since the third generation would thus end 
fifteen years before the Exodus, and the fourth, six 
years after the division of the land. The simplest and 
most natural sense, it has been shewn by direct Scrip- 
ture evidence, is the natural lifetime of seventy years. 
(Psa. xc. 10 : Exod. i. 6 : Jud. ii. 7, 10.) One gene- 
ration reached to the death of Joseph, a second is the 
middle period of Kohath and Amram, a third is that of 
Moses and Aaron till the Exodus, and the fourth is 
that of Joshua and the elders, including the journey 
through the wilderness, and the conquest of the land. 

The whole argument, then, in chap, xvi.-xx. of Dr. 
Colenso's Pentateuch, is based entirely on a very 
manifest error. A generation, both in the prophecy 
and its fulfilment, answers to two average descents 
from father to son, and not to one only. It is an 
average lifetime of seventy years, and not one half or 
one third of that length. The fourth generation will 
thus answer, on the average, to a seventh descent; and 
the whole series of objections, so carefully built on this 
one mistake, that the males at the Exodus were the 
fourth only in lineal descent, or grandsons' grandsons 
of the Twelve Patriarchs, is one tissue of strange and 
surprising error. 

Since, however, great stress has been laid on this 
line of argument against the truth of the sacred history, 
and a deceptive air of solidity has been given to it 
by numerical calculations, I shall submit the whole 
subject to a careful review. This is the more de- 
OTable, because the genealogies, when examined in 

D 2 



36 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

detail, present several difficulties, which only patient 
thought, and a comparison of Scripture with Scripture 
can remove. 

20. The nature of the ohjection, and the startling 
results to which it leads, will be seen from the follow- 
ing extracts. No remark is omitted that has any ap- 
pearance of real weight. 

" We conclude that it is an undisputable fact that 
the story, as told in the Pentateuch, intends it to be 
understood : first, that the children of Israel came out 
of Egypt 215 years after they went down in the time 
of Jacob ; and next, that they came out in the fourth 
generation from the adults in the prime of life, who 
went down with Jacob. And it should be understood 
that the second of these conclusions does not in any way 
depend on the correctness of the former T 

" If we examine the different genealogies of remark- 
able men, which are given in various places of the 
Pentateuch, we shall find, as a rule, that the contem- 
poraries of Moses and Aaron are descendants in the 
thirds and those of Joshua and Eleazar, in the fourth 
generation, from some one of the sons or adult grand- 
sons of Jacob, who went down into Egypt. Thus we 
have (1) and (2) Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses and 
Aaron ; (3) and (4) Levi, Kohath, Uzziel, Mishael and 
Elzaphan ; (5) Levi, Kohath, Izhar, Korah ; (6) and (7) 
Eeuben, Pallu, Eliab, Dathan and Abiram ; (8) Zarah, 
Zabdi, Carmi, Achan ; (9) Pharez, Hezron, Eam, 
Amminadab, Nahshon ; (10) Pharez, Hezron, Segub, 
Jair ; (11) Pharez, Hezron, Caleb, Hur, Uri, Bezaleel. 
In the last instance Bezaleel is in the fifth gene- 
ration from Pharez. Perhaps he was a young man, 
and was reckoned in the next generation to that of 
Joshua. Besides, Hezron, as well as his father, was 
born, according to the story, in the land of Canaan. 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOUETH GENERATION. 37 

Again, tlie cliildren of Macliir, the son of Manasseh, 
were brought up on Joseph's knees. (Gron. 1. 23.) 
Hence, as Joseph was thirty-nine at the Descent, and 
died at one hundred and ten, we may assume that 
Machir s son, Gilead, was born about seventy years 
after the migration ; and we read of Zelophehad, the 
son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, whose daughters 
* came to Moses, and who died in the wilderness.' The 
above include all the instances, where the genealogies 
are given in the Pentateuch itself." 

The genealogy of Joshua in 1 Chron. vii. 22-27, 
which seems to place him in the ninth descent from 
Ephraim, or tenth from Joseph, is dismissed with the 
remark, that it is an exception to a rule universal in 
the Pentateuch, that we have to do only with the 
narrative of the Pentateuch itself, and not of Chronicles ; 
that six generations in 100 years are implied by it, 
and are hardly credible ; and that it is hardly credible 
Elishama should be the captain of Ephraim, after his 
grandson, Joshua, had commanded in the fight with 
Amalek. Two conjectures of Kitto and Kuenen are 
examined and rejected ; and the conclusion is drawn 
that the account " involves a palpable contradiction, is 
probably erroneous, and at all events, is of no import- 
ance in opposition to so many testimonies, both from 
the Pentateuch and Chronicles." 

The argument then continues, " We have no reason 
whatever, from the data furnished by the sacred books 
themselves, to assume that the Israelites had families 
larger than those of the present day. The absence of 
females in Gen. xlvi. is another indication of the un- 
historical character of the whole account. The twelve 
are said to have 53 sons, or 4 J each. The first gene- 
ration, then, would have about 54 males, the second 
243, the third, of Moses, 1094, the fourth, of Eleazar, 



38 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

4923 ; so that instead of 600,000 warriors in tlie prime 
of life, there would only be about 5000^ or the total 
6311. If to these we add a fifth generation, chiefly 
children, the total would be 28,465 instead of a million. 

"Again, taking all the families in Exod. vii. 14-25, 
13 persons have 39 sons, which gives an average of 
three only. This would give 1377 in the fourth 
generation, instead of 600,000. That the males of 
Kohath's generation might produce 600,000 men in 
Joshua's, each parent must have had 46 children, or 23 
sons and 23 daughters. 

" The results," it is said, " are still more extravagant, 
when we examine the details of each tribe. Dan has 
only one son in the first generation, and hence in the 
fourth would have only 27 warriors instead of 62,700, 
increased by the second census to 64,400. For such 
an increase, families of 80 children would be required. 
The three sons of Levi increased to eight in the second 
generation, and all the male Levites of the third would 
be 16, and those at the first census, if the ratio con- 
tinued, only 44, or 20 Kohathites, 12 Gershonites, and 
12 Merarites, instead of 8580. Again, the Amramites, 
numbered as Levites in the fourth generation, were 
only two, and the rest of the Kohathites must have 
been descendants of Izhar and Uzziel, each of whom 
had three sons. Hence, as the Kohathites of Eleazar's 
generation were numbered at 2750, these six men 
must have had between them, according to the Pen- 
tateuch, 2748 sons, and nearly the same number of 
daughters." Finally, the 22,000 Levites, by the present 
English rate of increase, should have become 48,000, 
and are represented to have increased only by 
1000, while the tribe of Manasseh increased in the 
same time from 32,200 to 52,700, though not one of 
the former were numbered among the latter. And 



TPIE EXODUS IN THE FOURTH GENERATION. 39 

hence, finally, tlie inference is drawn, that the account 
of these numbers " is of no historical value whatever." 
" The desperate nature of the attempt to reconcile and 
explain them will be seen," it is further said, " hy stai> 
ing the contrivances resorted to for this purpose, to the 
utter sacrifice of all historical truth and consistency." 
(C. P. E. pp. 96-113.) 

21. In the whole of this confident argument, there 
is only one single point of real truth. Josephus, and the 
best Christian chronologers, Eusebius, Scaliger, Pe- 
tavius. Usher, and others, down to Fynes Clinton, 
agree in dating the 430 years from the Call of Abra- 
ham, and not from the Descent of Jacob, in accordance 
with the clear assertion of Num. xxvi. 59, and the 
words of St. Paul in the Epistle to the Gralatians, who 
places the giving of the law 430 years after the 
promise to Abraham. It follows at once that the 
actual stay in Egypt was only 215 years. The chief 
German defenders of the Pentateuch, Hengstenberg, 
Havernick, and Kurtz, having forsaken this view in 
order to remove a supposed difficulty, come into direct 
collision with the words of St. Paul, the revealed 
parentage of Moses, and the general drift of the 
Scripture genealogies. Like other unwise concessions 
of a timorous faith to adverse criticism, the opinion 
replaces one fancied source of perplexity by others far 
greater, and brings a mist and cloud over the con- 
sistency and truth of the whole narrative. With this 
one exception, the passages quoted are a tissue of 
paralogisms and false reasoning. 

And first, it is wholly untrue that the second 
conclusion, of an Exodus in the fourth descent from 
the Patriarchs, does not depend in any way on the 
correctness of the other statement, that it was at the 
end of 215 years. They depend so intimately, that 



40 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

the proof of the one is the full disproof of the other. 
If 215 years are three complete descents, and part of 
a fourth, then the mean value of one descent, or the 
mean age of every Israelite father in Egypt at the 
birth of a son, must plainly have been 215-j-3i = 61i 
years, or more strictly, including the Entrance in the 
fourth generation, 260 -i- 4 = 65 years. 'Now it is plain 
from Psa. xc. 10, that the full length of life, at that very 
time, was the same as now, or 70 years ; and both from 
the numberings of the people, and an express law (Lev. 
xxvii. 1-7), that 20 years was the age of transition from 
childhood to full manhood. The same is clear, in the his- 
tory, from the lives of the Twelve Patriarchs themselves, 
who had 51 sons, when their ages ranged only from 25 
to 45 years. The period, also, is doubly marked in the 
history, by repeated promises of especial fertility and 
rapid increase, and by the record of their fulfilment. 
An hypothesis which makes the mean length of one 
descent, or the mean age of parentage, at such a time, 
61 or 65 years, carries its refutation on its face. Its 
serious adoption by a writer of the least pretensions to 
scholarship and common sense is a greater historical 
marvel, than all the difficulties urged, in its name, 
against the narrative of Moses. The period of 215 
years, it is plain, will make 3 descents of 72 years, 4 of 
54 years, 5 of 43 years, 6 of 36 years, 7 of 31 years, 
8 of 27 years, and 9 of 24 years. The last of these, 
though low, is quite usual : the first is very rare 
and exceptional, though a few cases of the kind 
may still be found. From the earlier precedents of 
the sacred history in the case of Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, we might expect that protracted gene- 
rations or descents, of 60 years and upward, would 
then be not quite so rare. But a number of descents, 
varying from four to nine, and most usually six or seven, 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOURTH GENERATION. 41 

will agree fully with, tlie customary laws of human life 
in every age. To assume, then, without the least evi- 
dence, a systematic sterility in early and middle life on 
the most gigantic scale, in order to convict of falsehood 
the words of the living God, enshrined in the faith of 
the whole Church for thousands of years, and sealed by 
the voice of the Son of God himself, is a monstrous 
and unaccountable folly. If we take honestly the data 
which the Pentateuch itself clearly supplies, the diffi- 
culties vanish one by one, and the whole narrative 
stands out in the consistency of perfect truth and hea- 
venly wisdom. 

Let us now reverse the process which has bred these 
errors, and compare the real evidence in due order, 
beginning with the broad outline of the Scripture nar- 
ratives, and proceeding afterwards to the separate gene- 
alogies. No regard will be had, at first, to two cir- 
cumstances which will have to be considered later ; 
whether the fifty-one grandsons named were all the 
sons of the patriarchs ; and whether household ser- 
vants and strangers, in considerable numbers, were not, 
both before and at the Exodus, incorporated into the 
families of Israel. 

22. Rate of increase of the whole nation. 

First, let us observe once more the exact results of 
the history with regard to the rate of increase during 
the sojourn. The 51 grandsons in Gen. xlvi. had 
increased to 600,000 males, born nineteen years before 
the Exodus, with those who died during the next twenty 
years in infancy, childhood, or youth. The generation 
who died at full age will answer to the 14 elders 
of the first list, and not to the grandsons. Under the 
special circumstances, one in ten, or 60,000, will be a 
full allowance for the diminution by death in twenty 
years. Again, from the data of the history, the pro- 



42 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

bable mean age of the patriarchs at the birth of their 
sons will be 29i, and that of the grandsons at the 
Descent, 9 years. Hence we have an interval of 
215—20 + 9 = 204 years for an increase from 51 to 
660,000 males. This gives the logarithm of the mean 
yearly increase =.02015673, and the mean rate itself 
= 1.047506, or just 4f per cent. The length of an 
average descent, or generation from father to son, with 
a family of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 sons will then be 23f , 29.87, 
34.67, 38.6, 41.93, and 44.8 years. With an average 
nmnber of 4|- sons, or 5 1 sons to 1 2 parents, the mean 
age of parentage, to secure the increase in the history, 
would be 31.175 years. In other, words, it will fall 
slightly below the rate, which the history itself leads 
us to infer, in the case of the twelve sons of Jacob at 
their descent into Egypt. The time of the Sojourn, at 
the same rate, would answer to six descents, with a 
surplus of 28 years. But if there were, on the average, 
five sons to each parent, the Sojourn would still be six 
descents, with a surplus of seven years. 

The history in Exodus, then, implies the special 
providence of the God of Israel, and a high average 
rate of fertility, but one of which all the separate 
elements are usual and moderate in themselves. A 
family of three sons and three daughters, between the 
ages of 20 and 27; or of four sons and four daughters 
below 35 or 36 years; or of five sons and five daugh- 
ters between 20 and 50 years of age — has nothing 
in itself unusual or surprising. The only thing re- 
markable in the sacred history will be the prevalence 
of this rate, on the average of thousands and ten thou- 
sands of families, and through five or six descending 
generations. The result implies no change or distortion 
of the usual laws of human life, but simply a special 
blessing of God, to secure the fulfilment of his own re- 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOUKTH GENEEATION". 43 

vealed promise. The ridiculous estimate of 46 children 
to a family falls to the ground at once, as soon as the 
Scriptures are compared together, and rightly explained. 

23. Rate of increase of the separate tribes, 

A first view of the relation between the names in 
Genesis, and the numbered amount of the separate 
tribes, exhibits some striking anomalies. The chief of 
these is the contrast between the tribes of Dan and 
Benjamin. The former patriarch has only one son 
recorded at the Descent, and the latter has ten, and 
still the numbers at the first census are 62,700 and 
35,400. There is thus a difference, as 18 to 1, in the 
rate of increase in these two tribes. 

Now, first of all, this diversity, within due limits, is 
rather an evidence for the truth of the history than 
any sign of its falsehood. Facts are constantly irre- 
gular and highly anomalous, and an artificial symmetry 
will often appear in the inventions of fraud or fancy, 
which betrays their unreal character. That an increase, 
exceptionally high in all the tribes, should be much 
higher in some than in others, is quite reasonable. 
Again, that the comparative sterility of Dan, in the 
first generation, should be compensated, and more than 
compensated, in those which followed, merely carries 
out a standing law of Providence towards the chosen 
people. The same Patriarch, who received the promise 
of a seed as the stars of heaven, had this promise ful- 
filled through one son only, whose birth was delayed to 
the long term of a hundred years. 

But is the large increase of the tribe of Dan, in itself, 
a real difficulty ? Since Dan was 43 years old at the 
Descent, his one son may probably have then reached the 
age of 20 years. The interval, till nineteen years before 
the Exodus, will thus be 216 years. The survivors 
of the elder descents would outnumber the pro- 



44 THE EXODUS OP ISRAEL. 

bable deaths during tliose nineteen years. The pro- 
blem, then, is the rate of increase by which one 
forefather may have an offspring, in 216 years, of 
62,700 males. The yearly rate implied is 1.05247, or 
an increase of 5 J per cent. The change required in 
this case is, that instead of an average of four sons, and 
an average descent of less than 30 years, there should 
be four sons every 27 years, or five sons every 31i 
years. The numbers would thus become 125 in 94 
years, 625 in 126 years, 15,625 in 189 years, and 
78,125 in 220 years. But an average of four sons 
and two daughters between 20 and 34 years of age is 
all that would be required, since the daughters might 
be supplied from other tribes. The contrast between 
Dan and Benjamin, indeed, may be simply explained, 
if there were an excess of male births in one tribe, and 
female births in the other, compared with the general 
average of all the tribes. Thus, with an average 
descent of 30 years, the general rate would require, 
from 12 parents, 48 sons and as many daughters. A 
rate of 51 sons and 45 daughters in the tribe of Dan. 
and of 45 sons and 51 daughters in that of Benjamin, 
would alone account for the difference in their apparent 
increase, without any further addition or diminution. 

The statement has been made, that Dan's one son, 
and his sons and grandsons, must have had eighty 
children each, in order to produce the recorded number 
of the tribe. This is true, with one important j)roviso, 
that each descent from father to son averaged 72 
years, or that parentage was miraculously suspended 
throughout the tribe, through forty years of puberty, 
and only began at 60, and reached to 80, 90, or 100 
years. It is a pitiable spectacle to see the truth of 
God's most holy word assailed on the strength of such 
absurdities as these. 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOUETH GENEEATIOK 



45 



24. The following table gives tlie number of each 
tribe at the first census, the number of grandsons from 
whom it sprung, the interval in years from the probable 
birth of those grandsons before the Descent till nineteen 
years before the Exodus, the needful rate of mean 
yearly increase, and the number of sons required in 
each family, assuming thirty years for the average 
time of one descent. It must also be observed that 
the gain is evidently greater when the times of descent 
are below the average than the loss for an equal 
excess : — 





Ko. 


1 


In- 
terval 


Log. Yearly- 
Increase. 


Rate 
Cent. 


Sons in 
Descent. 


Mean rate per cent. 


= 4.849 


Keuben . 


46,500 


4 


208 


.0195452 


4.603 


3.858 


Simeon . 


59,300 


6 


208 


.0191957 


4.519 


3.766 


Excess in Ephraim 


= .5985 


Gad. , . 


45,650 


7 


208 


.0183382 


4.313 


3.549 


Defect in Benjamin 


= .6785 


Judah . . 


74,600 


3 


204 


.0215472 


5.087 


4.430 


Average number of 


sons for 


Issachar . 


54,400 


4 


202 


.0204631 


4.82.4 


4.111 


twelve parents in 


30 years 


Zebulun . 


57,400 


3 


202 


.0211970 


5.002 


4.324 


= 49-99 




Epliraim 


40,500 


1 


200 


.0230373 


5.448 


4.910 


Same for Ephraim 


= 58.92 


Manasseh 


32,200 


1 


200 


.0225393 


5.327 


4.744 


for Dan 


= 58.14 


BenjaTYiin 


35,400 


10 


200 


.0177450 


4.171 


3.407 


for Benjamin 


= 40.88 


Dan. . . 


62,700 


1 


210 


.0228441 


5.401 


4.845 






Asher . . 


41,500 


4 


200 


.0200799 


4.732 


4.003 






Naphtali . 


63,400 


4 


204 


.0202229 


4.767 


4.043 







The Twelve Patriarchs, at the Descent, had already 
51 sons, and the mean age of the parent at the birth 
of these sons^ taking the most probable value, was about 
29|- years. It results from the table that the average 
number of sons to every twelve parents, in a descent 
of 30 years in length, must have been almost exactly 
50 ; that in Benjamin, where the rate is lowest, it would 
be 41 ; and in Ephraim, Dan, and Manasseh, where 
it is highest, 59, 58, and 57 sons respectively, for every 



46 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

twelve parents. Eeiiben, Simeon, Gad, Benjamin, 
Asher, Naphthali, fall below the average of the twelve 
patriarchs themselves ; and Jiidah, Zebulun, Ephraim, 
Dan, and Manasseh rise above it, the extreme and mean 
rates being nearly as ^.ve, six, and seven. 

25. It must now be sufficiently plain, and even 
mathematically certain, that the objection to the truth 
of the account in Exodus, from the high rate of in- 
crease it implies, either in the whole people, or the 
separate tribes, has no critical or historical value what- 
ever. The mean rate required, in every case, is far 
below the limit of physical possibility, without any 
miraculous interference with the usual laws of human 
life. Even when highest, it is only the same which is 
occurring daily before our eyes in hundreds and 
thousands of families. The only peculiarity is the 
maintenance of this average of four sons to a parent, 
or from 4f to nearly 5 in three tribes, throughout a 
numerous race, and in five or ^six successive genera- 
tions. But this only confirms the inspired narrative, 
which declares this unusual increase of the whole race 
to have been the subject of repeated and emphatic 
promises ; and that its occurrence at the time of the 
Exodus, was a signal and manifest token of the peculiar 
blessing of God upon the chosen people, and an early 
fulfilment of that later message, — *'Thou wilt perform 
the truth unto Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, 
which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the 
days of old." 

26. The relation between the two Scriptural data, 
the 400 and 430 years on the one side, and the four 
generations on the other^ where the author of " the Pen- 
tateuch Examined " has gone so egregiously wrong, is 
really of a very simple kind. The four generations, 
compared with the words of St. Paul, the parentage 



THE EXODUS IN THE FOURTH GENERATION. 47 

of Moses, and other genealogies, prove that both 
periods date from Abraham and Isaac, and that the 
true time of the stay in Egypt was 215 years. The 
time thus clearly fixed, compared with other passages, 
proves in its turn that the four generations are not 
average descents from father to son, but average life- 
times^ of two descents at least, or of seventy years. By 
adopting one of these inferences, and overlooking the 
other, page after page has been filled with gross and 
ridiculous errors. Charges of folly and falsehood have 
been brought against the lively oracles of the Only 
Wise Grod, based wholly on a silent assumption that 
the mean age for the birth of sons, among the Israelites, 
was delayed till they were from sixty to eighty years 
old, in the period emphatically marked by promises of 
unusual rapidity of increase. Such charges refute 
themselves, and their occurrence, under the name of 
honest inquiry after truth, is a moral paradox not easy 
to explain. 



48 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 



CHAPTER Y. 

THE aENEALOGIES IN" EGYPT. 

27. The separate genealogies, on which reliance has 
been placed, to prove that the Exodus was in the fourth 
descent, and the recorded numbers excessive and in- 
credible, are those of Moses and Aaron, Mishael and 
Elzaphan, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, Achan, Jair, 
Nahshon and Bezaleel. That of Joshua in Chronicles, 
which seems to place him in the tenth descent from 
Joseph, and would be fatal to the hypothesis, is dis- 
missed on two grounds, that the book is too late to be 
of real authority, and that the text is contradictory and 
hopelessly corrupt. 

Now the first question of any careful reasoner must 
be. Are these instances numerous enough to form a 
secure basis for a conclusion on the average for the 
whole people ? The answer is quite plain. The num- 
bers at the Exodus imply and require more than 
100,000 distinct genealogies. The cases quoted, spread 
out at greatest length, are twelve, but reduce themselves 
at once to mW, since there are three pairs of brothers. 
One of these is described in the text as plainly excep- 
tional ; since Moses and Aaron, by the mother's side,, 
were grandsons of Levi ; while two grandsons of Asher, 
Heber and Malchiel, were born before the migration 
into Egypt. Three of the nine, including that of 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 49 

Moses, are from the tribe of Levi, of which the increase 
was nearly four times below the average, making it 
not improbable that there was, on the average, one 
descent less than in the other tribes. Three others 
derive their apparent force from misconstruction of the 
text. There remain three cases only, or five at the 
most, from which to infer the average number of de- 
scents in 100,000 genealogies. 

Again, do these nine cases, on a first general inspec- 
tion, point to the conclusion they are brought to prove ? 
For this end three conditions are required, that the 
reckoning shall begin from the Twelve Patriarchs, that 
it shall close with the last generation in each line, old 
enough to be numbered, and that the number of four 
descents shall result in almost every case. 

28. In the actual argument the licence has been 
taken, first of all, of reckoning either from a son or 
grandson of Jacob. Correcting this fault, and including 
the line of Joshua, which, in a prima facie view of the 
evidence we are bound to do, we find these results 
for the number of descents : Moses and Aaron, by the 
mother's side, 2 ; Moses and Aaron, Mishael and El- 
zaphan, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, 3 ; Achan and 
Jair, at the Conquest, one generation after the Exodus, 4 ; 
Nahshon and Zelophehad, at the Exodus, 5 ; Bezaleel, 
6 ; and Joshua, 10. These are the materials, in their 
unrevised form, from which we are to infer that most 
of the people at the Exodus, 600,000 in number, are 
in the fourth descent, and not lower, from the sons of 
Jacob. Only two of the ten give that number, and 
both of these belong to the Conquest, not to the 
Exodus, and the reckoning, is also due to misinterpre- 
tation in both of these. 

But a further correction is plainly required. To 
make the test at all available, we ought clearly to 



50 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

include the lowest descent above the Scripture limit 
of twenty years. Now, first, Moses and Aaron were 80 
and 83 years of age, and Mishael, Elzaphan, and Korali 
were their first cousins, and might be either a little 
older or a little younger. The sons of Moses, we 
know, were born after he was 40 years old, and their 
sons would be younger than 20 years. But in the case 
of the four others, it is probable that the grandsons, and 
not the sons only, were some of them above the limit. 
For 83 = 2.30 + 23 years, or 2.25 + 33 years ; or those 
of Aaron's age would usually have grandsons from 23 
to 33 years old. When we generalize from three or 
four such cases, this is the only natural conclusion. 
We shall thus, in the tribe of Levi, as deduced from 
these examples alone, have the fifth descent numbered 
at the Exodus. Assuming, then, long average descents 
of 40 years, and five instead of four sons in a family, 
we have 3125 x 3 =: 9375 for the approximate number 
of Levites above 20 years; and, including half another 
descent, 9375x\/5 = 21,100 for the approximate 
number of all the males already born ; since a fivefold 
increase in 40 years, implies one as the square root of 
Eye, or as 9 to 4 nearly, in 20 years. This is plainly 
a close approach to the number in the sacred text. 

29. Again, the sister of Nahshon was the wife of 
Aaron, whose age at the Exodus was 83 years. It is 
an ample allowance to suppose him 20 years younger 
than Aaron, his brother-in-law. His elder sons, then, 
if not all of them, would be above the limit of 20 
years, and it would be quite possible that he might 
have even grandsons who exceeded it. One descent 
at least must therefore be added, and the sixth descent, 
and not the fourth, would terminate the numbering in 
this line. 

Bezaleel, the builder of the tabernacle, is actually the 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 51 

sixth in order from Judah. The conjecture that he was 
a generation younger than Joshua is plainly groundless. 
Hur, the grandfather of Bezaleel, was the companion of 
Aaron and Moses, and by Jewish tradition the husband 
of Miriam. It is probable, on these and other grounds 
that he was about 90 years of age. Elishama, the 
grandfather of Joshua, was also the leader of Ephraim 
at the numbering, and probably not older, hardly so 
old. The most likely view is that Joshua was about 
40 years old and Bezaleel a little older. Hence in this 
line the sixth descent, and almost a seventh, would 
enter the numbering at the Exodus. 

Zelophehad, again, is in the fifth, and his daughters 
in the sixth descent from Joseph. He died in the 
wilderness, and his daughters, who married forty years 
later, must probably have been born after the Exodus, 
or shortly before it, and were then less than 20 years of 
age. But here also, when we examine closely, we have 
clear proof that the average descents must be one more. 
For assuming the birth of Manasseh to be five years 
before the migration, and an average of 3 5 for the four 
first descents, which will place the birth of Machir's 
son, Gilead, six years before the death of Joseph (Gen. 
1. 23), Zelophehad would be born 80 years before the 
Exodus, and be exactly of the same age with Moses. 
The way in which he is named as one of the natural 
heads of the tribe, so that his inheritance being given 
to his daughters (Josh. xvii. 5, 6) affected the allotment 
to that tribe, implies his rank among its natural patri- 
archs or leaders. As Jochebed was born to Levi in his 
extreme old age, the birth of Zelophehad's daughters 
must have been, therefore, of the same kind ; and his 
unusual sterility alone prevented his having many sons, 
and possibly many grandsons, old enough to be found 
in the census of his tribe. Thus the corrected number 

E 2 



52 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

of descents becomes six, verging on tlie seventh, from 
Joseph; just as the corrected number in the line of 
Nahshon is six, and in that of Bezaleel six verging on 
seven, from the patriarch Jndah ; while five, verging 
on six, is the corrected number in the three Levitical 
genealogies. 

30. Three genealogies, which have been alleged in 
proof of four descents only, remain to be examined, 
those of Dathan and Abiram, of Jair and Achan. 
These are stated to be in the third descent from 
Reuben, Pharez, and Zarah; or the former in the third, 
and the two latter in the fourth, from Reuben and 
Judah. But since the passages respecting Jair and 
Achan refer to the entrance of the land, the allegation 
amounts to three cases of a third descent only at the 
time of the Exodus, or three successive generations, 
from father to son, of full seventy years. But the 
argument, in each case, rests on a misconception of the 
true sense of the genealogy. 

The whole passage respecting Dathan and Abiram is 
in these words — 

" Reuben, the eldest son of Israel : the children of 
Reuben, Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of 
Pallu, the family of the Palluites ; of Hezron, the 
family of the Hezronites ; of Carmi, the family of the 
Carmites. These are the families of the Reubenites ; 
and they that were numbered of them were forty and 
three thousand and seven hundred and thirty. 

" And the sons of Pallu ; Eliab. And the sons of Eliab ; 
Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan 
and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, 
who strove against Moses and Aaron in the company of 
Korah, when they strove against the Lord : and the 
earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up to- 
gether with Korah, when that company died, what 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 53 

time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men ; and 
they became a sign. Notwithstanding, the children of 
Korah died not." 

The question is here, whether it he meant that Ehab 
was the own son, and even the only son of Pallu^ or 
simply one of his family in a direct line. The proof 
seems easy that the latter is the true meaning. 
If he were simply a lineal descendant, there is a plain 
reason why he alone should be named, because he was 
the father of Dathan and Abiram. If he were strictly 
the son, the natural inference must be that he was 
the only son. Now from the history, Num. xvi. 23, we 
cannot well conceive that each of the brothers had more 
than a dozen adult males in his family, or at most a 
score ; or, including Nemuel, we may infer that Eliab 
was represented by about 40 males at the first number- 
ing. But the number at each census, 46,500 and 
43,400 for the tribe, gives on the average 11,000 for 
the Palluites alone. Hence the family of Eliab was 
only one two hundred and seventy-fifth part of the 
Palluite family to which it belonged. Even allow- 
ing that family to have numbered only one half its 
proper share of the tribe, the ratio is still 135 to one. 
These ratios are plainly equivalent to three descents 
with a rather high average, or else four with a lower 
one. We may thus infer, almost with absolute cer- 
tainty, that Eliab was either the great-grandson, or 
grandson's grandson of Pallu, and not, as hastily as- 
sumed in the objection, his only son. 

Again, Pallu, the second son of Reuben, seems to 
have been almost grown up at the first return from 
Egypt (Gren. xlii. 37), and must have been not far 
from 15 years old at the Descent. His birth would 
be thus 230 years before the Exodus. Dathan and 
Abiram, who had grandsons at the time of the judg- 



54 THE EXODUS OF ISKABL. 

ment, miglit then be 80 years old, but scarcely older. 
The time of their rebellion is not fixed, but seems to have 
been in the first 20 years of the journeying, and may 
be placed, as a mean, 10 years after the Exodus. They 
may thus have been 70 years old at the Exodus itself. 
The interval between Eliab and his second son may be 
reckoned from 30 to 40 years. Hence the interval 
between the birth of Pallu and that of Eliab, will be, 
on the most reasonable estimate, 230 — 100, or 230 — 110, 
that is, from 120 to 130 years. But it is wholly absurd 
to suppose that one of the four sons of Reuben, under a 
promise of special fertility to the whole race, had only 
one son, and this only when he was 20 or 30 years older 
than Abraham at the birth of Isaac. The interval 
implies three descents at least, but probably four. In 
the latter case, Eliab will be the fifth from Eeuben, 
Dathan and Abiram the sixth, and their sons, who had 
little ones, the seventh. This genealogy will thus be a 
specimen of the seventh descent at the Exodus, corre- 
sponding to the fourth lifetime, or generation of the kind 
intended in the prophetic vision. 

31. Jair is the second alleged example of the Exodus 
being in the fourth descent, but in reality, after a first 
correction of the statement, in the third. For the 
passages on which the argument is based are I^um. 
xxxii. 41 : Deut. iii. 14 : 1 Chron. ii. 21, 22, and 
relate to the possession of Bashan, a whole descent 
after the Exodus in point of time. The case, there- 
fore, if rightly alleged, would make the third, and not 
the fourth descent, answer to the Exodus. 

But the argument rests on a total misconception. 
Jair, in these passages, is the name of the family, just 
as Israel is in so many places. The grandson of 
Hezron must have been dead long before. This is 
plain on the least reflection. First, the previous 



THE GEISTEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 55 

verse in Numbers is as follows : " And Moses gave 
Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseli ; and he dwelt 
therein." And in Deuteronomy he says to the people, 
in the same connexion with Jair, " And I gave Grilead 
unto Machir." Here Machir is evidently the family, 
not the person ; and common sense requires that the 
mention of Jair should be explained in the same way. 
Next, the partition of the land was after the second 
numbering, when all of the first numbering were dead, 
except the Levites, Caleb, and Joshua. Hence, if Jair 
in person took possession of these twenty-three cities, 
he must have been less than 20 years old at the Exodus. 
Again, since Hezron is named by anticipation at the 
time of the Descent, replaced Er in the headship of 
a family, and was the firstborn of Pharez, he was 
born, in all probability, less than 25 years after- 
wards. From 1 Chron. ii. 22, we learn that he was 
just about 60 at the birth of Segub, Jair's father, which 
would thus be less than 85 years from the Descent, or 
more than 130 before the Exodus. The interval to 
the birth of Jair, if the latter survived till the Con- 
quest, would thus be not less than 111 years. Such an 
interval is almost impossible, and wholly incredible. 
Jair, if born so near to the Exodus, and a boy at the 
time, could not have given name to a warrior family 
at the conquest of Bashan. For the tribe of Manasseh, 
as well as Ephraim, had a promise of special fertility ; 
and the history ranks it third in that respect, Ephraim 
being the first, and Dan the second, or both of them 
nearly equal. A probable adjustment will place the 
births of Hezron, Segub and Jair about 20, 80 and 115 
years after the Descent, or the birth of Jair 100 years 
before the Exodus. The interval to the birth of those 
20 years old at the Conquest will be thus 120 years, or 
four average descents. The family might therefore in- 



56 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

elude more than a thousand men of war by direct 
descent, besides the probable increase from adoption and 
household servants. 

32. The case of Achan is very similar. He is called 
Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of 
Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. This v^ill be the fourth 
descent from Judah, if the ancestry is complete, and 
answer to a third descent for the Exodus, since 
he must then have been under 19 years. Now 
Zerah was born one or two years Defore the Descent, 
or 216 at least before the Exodus. We have thus 198 
years for the interval to the earliest date for Achan's 
birth, or three intervals, with an average of 66 years. 
But since Achan had plainly no grandsons, his birth 
would be more reasonably assigned to the Exodus 
itself, or later, and the average of three successive 
descents will be raised to 72 years. This is wholly 
unnatural and improbable. 

But an inspection of the account in Joshua points 
to a different view. It reads as follows : "And Joshua 
brought Israel by their tribes ; and the tribe of Judah 
was taken : and he brought the tribe of Judah ; and 
he took the family of the Zarhites : and he brought the 
family of the Zarhites man by man ; and Zabdi was 
taken : and he brought his household, man by man ; 
and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son 
of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken." The 
first impression the text would give is that Zabdi was 
alive and present. This is scarcely possible, since he 
must in that case have been only 59 years old, and his 
grandson could then be only 21 at most. But if he 
were the actual head of a household at the celebration 
of the first Passover, and the first numbering, it might 
still bear his name, and he might have survived till 
within a few years of the Conquest. In this case, Achan 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 57 

miglit be 40 years old, or born at the time of the Exodus, 
Carmi, his father, about 25 years old at that time, and 
Zabdi about 50 or 60 years. There would thus be 
155 or 165 years from Zerah's birth to that of Zabdi, 
answering to either four or five descents. 

The passage, then, rightly explained, gives no direct 
proof of the number of descents from Judah to the 
Exodus. It merely throws us back on the general 
inference from the chronology. Since there must have 
been about a century and a half between the births of 
Zerah and Zabdi, there would probably be five de- 
scents ; or, in other words, seven descents in this line 
from Judah to the Exodus. 

Thus the final result, when the lists are carefully 
analyzed, gives three cases of jive descents in the tribe 
of Levi, where the increase is lower than the average 
in the ratio of one descent ; one of six descents, in 
JSTahshon ; two of six^ verging on seven^ in the lives of 
Bezaleel and Zelophehad ; and three which yield no 
independent conclusion, but a probable result, compared 
with the known chronology, and the fixed data in each 
case, of six or seven at the Exodus, and of seven or 
eight at the Conquest. 

33. The passage in Chronicles, which seems to place 
Joshua in the tenth descent from Joseph, remains still 
to be considered. It reads with the whole context as 
follows : — 

" And the sons of Ephraim ; Shuthelah, and Bered 
his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and 
Tahath his son, and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, 
and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were 
born in that land slew, because they came down to take 
away their cattle. And Ephraim their father mourned 
many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. 
And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and 



58 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

bare a son, and lie called his name Beriah, because it 
went ill with his house. (And his daughter was Sherah, 
who built Beth-horon the nether, and the upper, and 
Uzzen-sherah.) And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, 
and Telah his son, and Tahan his son, Laadan his son, 
Ammihud his son, Elishama his son. Nun his son, 
Jehoshuah his son,'' 1 Chron. vii. 20--27. 

Here a fresh objection is based on these premises. 
Joseph saw Ephr aim's children of the third generation, 
and therefore Telah, of the third, might be born about 
70 years after the Descent. Again, Joshua must 
have been nearly of the same age with Caleb, and 
therefore we may reckon him, with Josephus, 45 at the 
Exodus. This leaves only 100 years for six generations 
from Telah to Joshua, an average of less than 17, 
which is incredible. 

This argument is overstated, since the interval might 
easily be six years more at each end, and would 
raise the average to 19, a number improbably low, but 
not impossible. But a second objection is decisive 
against the text, as now read and pointed, when the 
names are taken to signify lineal descent. For in this 
case the birth of Beriah would follow the death of 
Ephraim's descendants of the seventh generation, after 
which there would be eight generations more to Joshua. 
This would imply eight generations within a space of 
forty or fifty years, and plainly cannot be the true 
meaning. The conjecture of Kitto, that Zabad should 
be read for Ephraim in v. 22, is rightly condemned. It 
is arbitrary and violent, and leaves the main difficulty 
unremoved. Again, the view of Kuenen, that Ms son, 
preceded by the copula, denotes an additional son to 
the last, is not confirmed by other passages, and would 
involve the supposition of two brothers named Shut- 
helah, and two named Tahath, which is highly im- 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 69 

probable. A third suggestion, not considered in the 
recent work, is tbat of Principal Browne in the Ordo 
Sceclorum, that the chronicler begins anew at the 
second mention of Shuthelah ; and that Laadan is a 
fresh commencement, the true name Eran, or Edan, 
having been compounded by mistake with the prefix, so 
as to appear like a new name. On this view, Eran is 
three descents from Joseph, and Joshua is four from 
Eran, Edan, or Laadan, or the seventh from the patri- 
arch. 

The conclusion of the " Pentateuch Examined" that the 
whole account in Chronicles " is probably erroneous, and 
at all events of no importance whatever," is a strange 
inversion of the rules of cautious and reverent criticism. 
Some correction, either of the text or its construction, 
is plainly required. One of a still simpler kind than 
that, which Principal Browne has proposed, will render 
the whole consistent and natural, with no change of the 
text, but merely of the punctuation. I would pro- 
pose, then, to read it as follows : — 
34. "And the sons of Ephraim. 

'' Shuthelah his son, and Bered his son, and Tahath 
his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his 
son. 
" Also, Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and 
Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath born 
in the land slew, because they came down to 
take away their cattle. 
" And Ephraim their father mourned many days, 
and his brethren came to comfort him. And 
when he went in to his wife, she conceived, 
and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, 
because it went ill with his house. And his 
daughter was Sherah, who built Beth-horon 
the nether, and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah. 



60 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

And Eephali his son^ also Eesheph, and Telali 

his son. 
" Also Talian his son, Laadan his son, Ammihud 

his son, Elishama his son, Nun his son, Joshua 

his son." 
The chronicle begins with the line of Shuthelah, the 
first-born of Ephraim, the founder of the first family of 
the Shuthalhites. It traces it to the second Tahath, the 
fourth descent from Shuthelah, and the sixth from 
Joseph. Allowing five descents of 30 years from 
Ephraim, this Tahath would be 220 — 150 = 70 years 
old at the Exodus, and might thus be the head of the 
family at that time, so as to form a natural close for the 
first branch of the record. 

The account will then recommence with Zabad, 
another son of Ephraim, who does not aj)pear in the 
families of the tribe, because he perished, with his three 
sons, Shuthelah, Ezer, and Elead, in a kind of border 
foray with men of Gath ; who may probably have been 
born in Goshen before the migration named in Deut. 
ii. 23, and came down, after they were settled in their 
new home, to prey on the cattle of the sons of 
Ephraim. The birth of Beriah follows, who would be 
a kind of substitute for Zabad, as Seth for Abel, but was 
not the head of the family. He seems to be named for a 
double reason, because of the incident itself, and also to 
introduce the reference to his daughter, and the towns 
built by her descendants. This line, on the present 
view, ends with Telah, two generations below Beriah. 
The latter having been born to Ephraim, on this view, 
after the death of some of his adult grandsons, and 
probably also after the death of Josej)h, when the 
troubles of Israel first set in, may be placed, perhaps, 
about 75 years after the Descent, or 140 before the 
Exodus. Two generations of 35 years would make 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 61 

Telali 70 at tlie Exodus, and therefore probably a 
traditional chief in the tribe of Ephraim; numbered, 
perhaps, with the second family of Becher, because 
Beriah had no distinct tribal family of his own ; unless 
these are two different names of the same person. 

The record now will resume with Tahan, the head, 
in Num. xxvi. 35, of the third family of Tahanites, 
and descend regularly to Joshua, the noted leader of 
Israel. There it ceases, and passes on to the tribe of 
Asher ; just as in Exod. vi. the genealogy is given 
for Eeuben, Simeon, and Levi ; but ceases there, when 
it has reached Moses and Aaron, the actual leaders 
of Israel, and makes no mention of the nine other 
tribes. There is thus no need to use any violence with 
the name of Laadan, which recurs 1 Chron. xxiii. 7; 
xxvi. 21, and the whole genealogy becomes clear and 
consistent. 

The result of this re-arrangement is to place Joshua 
five descents from Tahan the grandson of Joseph, 
or seven descents from Joseph himself. And this 
agrees perfectly with the chronology. For since 
Joseph was 39 at the Descent, and Joshua from 40 
to 45 at the Exodus, we have 209 or 214 years for 
seven descents, an average of just 30 years. Or if 
we suppose Ephraim 5 years at the Descent and 
Joshua 40 at the Exodus, which are probable values, 
we have just 215 + 5-40 = 180 years for six descents. 
The two last were probably below the average, and 
might be together only 45 years ; since Elishama, the 
grandfather of Joshua, and son of Ammihud, was 
captain of the host of Ephraim at the first numbering 
of the people. On this estimate he would be 85 years 
of age. From Ephraim to Elishama would thus be 
220 — 85 = 135 years, and four generations. This 
would be satisfied by three descents of 30, and one of 



62 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

45 years; or else by three of 35 years^ and one of 30. 
In the latter case, the births of Tahan, Laadan, Am- 
mihud, Elishama, Nun and Joshua, would lie in the 
years 25, 60, 95 of the Descent^ and 85, 65, and 40 
before the Exodus. 

35. The general conclusion from a review of the 
separate genealogies issues, then, in the following re- 
sults ; when the descents are reckoned from one of the 
Twelve Patriarchs down to the youngest generation old 
enough to be numbered, and when the links not ex- 
pressed have been supplied, by the help of the known 
data, in the most probable way, 

1. From Levi to Gershom and Eliezer, sons of Moses, 
4 descents. 

2. From Levi to grandsons of Mishael, Elizaphan, 
and Korah, 5 descents. 

3. From Judah^ by Pharez to Bezaleel, 6 descents, 
and nearly a seventh. 

4. From Judah, by Pharez to the sons of Nahshon, 
6 descents. 

5. From Joseph, by Machir and Gilead, to brothers' 
grandsons of Zelophehad, 7 descents. 

6. From Joseph, by Shuthelah, to the sons of the 
second Tahath, 7 descents. 

7. From Joseph, through Beriah, to the sons of 
Telah, 5 descents (two being lost). 

8. From Joseph, through Tahan, to Joshua, 7 
descents. 

9. From Reuben, through Pallu, to Dathan and 
Abiram's sons, probably 7 descents. 

10. From Judah, through Zerah, to Achan at the 
Conquest, probably 8 descents, but 7 to the Exodus. 

It must now be plain that the objections brought 
against the truth of the Mosaic narrative from the 
separate genealogies are just as groundless as those 



THE GENEALOGIES IN EGYPT. 63 

which have been drawn from the words of the prophecy 
to Abraham. The result of the most searching- 
analysis^ when all the data of the text are fairly com- 
bined and accurately weighed, is to convert seeming 
difficulties, seldom to be found in the cautious reticence 
of ignorant forgers, into effectual evidences of thorough 
consistency and historic truth. 



CA THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER Yl. 

THE NUMBER OF THE FIRSTBORN. 

36. The number of the firstborn of Israel, compared 
with the total number of adult males at the Exodus, 
has been held, with apparent reason, to be a great 
perplexity in the Scripture narrative. The confidence 
with which this objection has been urged by various 
assailants is not surprising, when the solutions offered 
by commentators are so diverse, and some of them 
are plainly quite inadequate. Thus it is suggested, 
in Scott's commentary, that only those born since the 
Exodus were numbered ; and by others, none above 
the age of five or six, the usual limit of the offerings 
to Moloch. Others have suggested that the numbers 
of the tribes and the people have been enlarged ten- 
fold by corruption of the numeral marks ; a view 
opposed to all the external and internal evidence, but 
the bare suggestion of which illustrates how much 
the difficulty is felt by those who propose it. Kurtz, 
in his work on the Old Covenant, has remarks which 
go far to solve the problem ; but they are so little 
sustained by direct proof, and are mixed with others 
so irrelevant, as to account, in some measure, for 
their indiscriminate rejection by Dr. Colenso in his 
recent work. Here, however, as in other cases, T 
believe that it needs only a close and searching com- 



THE NUMBER OF THE FIRSTBORN. 65 

parison of Scripture witli Scripture, to turn the seeming 
difficulty into another strong evidence of historical 
consistency and truth. 

37. The objection is stated by Yan Bohlen in these 
words. 

" Palpable contradictions, and other indications, ena- 
ble us to detect the epic source of these exaggerations. 
At one time the number of men able to bear arms 
above twenty is said to amount to 603,550, exclusive 
of the Levites, and this number is distributed through 
their imaginary camp : soon afterwards, however, the 
number of the firstborn is set down at 22,273. A 
comparison of the statements is sufficient to shew the 
fictitious character of the whole census ; for from it we 
may deduce that every mother, taking one with ano- 
ther, must have brought into the world no less than 
forty-two male children, or in other words, that only 
one firstborn child is to be allowed for every forty-two 
males." (Y. B. Gen. I. p. Ill, Eng. Ed.) 

The same objection is stated as follows in *' The 
Pentateuch Examined." 

'* The number of boys in every family must have 
been, on the average, forty-two. This will be seen at 
once, if we consider that the rest of the 900,000 males 
were not firstborns, and, therefore, each of these must 
have had one of the 22,273 as the firstborn of her own 
family, except, of course, any cases where the firstborn 
was a daughter or was dead, of which we shall speak 
presently." 

" Let us suppose the firstborn females equal in 
number. This will not at all diminish the essential 
difficulty : it will only change the form of it. It will 
imply that each mother had on the average forty-two 
children, but twenty-one sons and twenty-one daughters. 

'^ Let us reckon that one of four firstborns died, so 

p 



66 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

that, instead of 44,546 male and female, there would 
have been 60,000. Even this number, for a population 
of 1,800,000, would imply that each mother had on an 
average fifteen sons and fifteen daughters. Besides, 
the number of the mothers must have been the same as 
that of the firstborns, male and female, including any 
that had died. Hence there would be only 60,000 
child-bearing women to 600,000 men, or only one man 
in ten who would have wife or children." (P. E., ch. 
xiv. pp. 84-87). 

I shall now shew that this objection, so formidable 
at first sight, when closely examined by the help of 
data which the Pentateuch itself supplies, yields a 
further proof of the consistency and historical reality 
of the whole narrative. 

38. The first element in the true solution is given by 
Dr. Kurtz in these words, though unfortunately without 
an attempt to confirm it by distinct evidence. " Such 
of the firstborn, as were themselves heads of families, 
were not reckoned at all as firstborn who had to be 
redeemed, but only their sons." 

To this it is replied, that this is pure assumption, 
unwarranted by anything found in Scripture. The 
command in Numb. iii. 40 is " Number all the first- 
born males from a month old and upward." If there 
had been any class excepted, as heads of families, it 
would undoubtedly have been mentioned here, but 
there is nothing of the kind. Have we any reason 
to suppose that the firstborn son of an Egyptian was 
exempt, because he was the head of a family ? He 
was the firstborn of his father, and therefore died " ac- 
cording to the story, that * there was not a house 
where there was not one dead.' " 

Now the truth is, that the view thus hastily con- 
demned results directly from all the statements of the 



THE NUMBER OP THE FIRSTBORN. 67 

sacred history, when they are carefully weighed and 
compared together, and is directly confirmed by one of 
the arguments which is here alleged as its sufficient dis- 
proof. Let us review the texts in order. 

(1), The first passage, and the evident basis of the 
whole, is Exod. iv. 22 : " And thou shalt say unto 
Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my 
firstborn : and I say unto thee. Let my son go, that 
he may serve me : and if thou refuse to let him go, 
behold, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn." This is 
illustrated by the later words in Hosea, quoted by 
St. Matthew — " When Israel was a child, then I loved 
him, and called my son out of Egypt." 

Here Israel, the whole nation, are plainly compared 
to a firstborn child, still under the parent's roof, who 
owes that parent a loving daily obedience. He was 
a child who had not yet come into the possession of his 
destined inheritance, but needed his Father's discipline 
and training, to fit him for its enjoyment. Pharaoh, 
in his pride, sought to prevent Israel from rendering, 
as a dutiful child, this filial service to his Father in 
heaven. His punishment, then, should answer to his 
sin, and his own firstborn, the hope and pride of his 
own household, should be smitten with death. The 
sentence, by its very nature, and the analogy on which 
it rests, was against firstborn in their fathers' families 
alone. For Pharaoh himself might be, and probably 
was, the firstborn son of the previous king. But the 
judgment would wholly change its character, as the 
last but one, and not the last, in the total series, if 
Pharaoh himself had been smitten by the destroying 
angel, because it was by the right of primogeniture 
that he, probably inherited the throne. The contrast 
in the warning is clearly between the reigning monarch, 
and that monarch's firstborn, and not between a king 

F 2 



ea THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL 

who was, and one who was not, his deceased father's 
firstborn son. 

(2). The second passage is xi. 4, 5 : " Thus saith the 
Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of 
Egypt : and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt 
shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon 
his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant 
that is behind the mill ; and all the firstborn of beasts." 
To this warning answers the promise to the Israelites, 
who were to strike the lintels and sideposts of their 
houses with the blood of the Passover, and none of 
them was to go out at the door of his house until the 
morning. 

The sin punished was a forcible interference with the 
parental rights of God, and with the filial service of His 
chosen and beloved son. The punishment, then, was 
to be a domestic visitation, affecting all the families, as 
families, through the land of Egypt, from the palace of 
Pharaoh to the home of the servant. The preservation 
of Israel was equally to be a domestic deliverance ; and 
each family was therefore to celebrate the Passover 
apart from the rest, and no member of the family to be 
absent during the celebration. To suppose that parents, 
who happened also to be firstborn, were referred to the 
second class and not to the first, either in the judgment 
or the deliverance, would alter the distinctive character 
of the whole visitation. It would transform a message 
full of moral power, from its lighting on one individual, 
holding a definite place in every household, to one 
which would almost require an Egyptian office of 
heraldry to explain its anomalies, and by which a very 
large number of the Egyptians themselves, as well as 
their children, would be swept away. 

(3), The execution of the warning is described in 
these words, xii. 29, 30 : " And it came to pass, that at 



THE NUMBER OF THE FIRSTBORN. 69 

midniglit the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of 
Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his 
throne, to the firstborn of the captive that was in the 
dungeon ; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh 
rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all 
the Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt ; 
for there was not a house where there was not one 
dead/' 

This passage, quoted strangely in disproof of the 
view here mentioned, confirms it in a plain and striking 
way. First, the judgment was executed in every home, 
from the palace of Pharaoh to the dungeon of the cap- 
tive. And next, its effect was one death, and only one, 
in every house ; that is, in none that of the parent, but 
in all, that of the eldest son. There must have been thou- 
sands and ten thousands of Egyptian families where the 
father, being himself a firstborn, had himself a living 
firstborn child. The judgment clearly fell on the child, 
not on the parent. " There was not a house where there 
was not one dead." If these words are taken strictly, 
then the eldest surviving son must evidently have been 
included in the judgment, where the actual firstborn 
was already deceased* But the death of father and son, 
or father, son, and grandson, by the same stroke, would 
alter the characteristic feature of the whole judgment. 

(4). This view is directly confirmed by Ps. cv. 36 : 
" He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief 
of all their strength." The second expression explains 
and limits the first. The Egyptians themselves, the 
full-grown men or parents, are contrasted with " the 
chief of their strength," the main hope and stay of 
the family in the prospect of the next generation. 
" Strength" is here an accepted phrase for natural fruit- 
fulness, or the power of increase. The firstborn children 
were the chief or beginning of the strength of their 



70 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

parents, Gen. xlix. 3, and were smitten as sncli, in con- 
trast to the later judgment, which fell on Pharaoh him- 
self and his host of warriors. 

(5). The same limitation is implied in the words of 
the command, Exod. xiii. 2, 3, 8, 12, 13-15. The 
ordinance is twice connected, in a marked and emphatic 
way, with the instruction of the sons of the Israelites. 
It is also twice expressed — '^ All the firstborn of man 
among thy children shalt thou redeem." " All the 
firstborn of my children I redeem." 

(6). The inclusion .of the cattle in the judgment 
points clearly, by analogy^ to the same view. Who 
can suppose that it extended beyond the firstborn 
young ones of the horses, oxen, and sheep, &c., to the 
stock of all ages, where, in nine cases out of ten, the 
fact of their being first births or otherwise would be 
quite forgotten ? Instead of adding to the impressive- 
ness of the judgment, such an extension of it could only 
have obscured and hidden from view its real object and 
deep significance. The firstborn of the cattle were 
slain, in contrast to the cattle themselves. 

(7). The same inference seems to result directly from 
Num. iii. 40, where the command is literally in these 
words : " Number every firstborn male to the sons of 
Israel from a month old and upward, and take the 
number of their names." The " sons of Israel " them- 
selves had been already numbered from a defined limit, 
twenty years old and upward. The Levites had not 
been included in this numbering, nor the children. 
The fresh numbering was to be of two classes distinct 
from the former, the Levites of all ages on one side, 
and the firstborn children of all the tribes on the other. 
And this limit is marked by the words of the command. 
The sons of Israel themselves had been numbered 
before, and by that very circumstance formally trans- 



THE NUMBER OF THE FIRSTBORN. 71 

ferred from the class of domestic sons to men of war. 
All the firstborn males to these sons of Israel were now 
to be numbered, like the Levites, that the substitution 
might be made. 

(8). The three reasons urged against this view, when 
examined closely, all of them yield arguments in its 
favour. The first is the command in Num. xii. 40 : 
" Number all the firstborn of the males from a month 
old and upward." But the text is really, " Number 
every firstborn male to the sons of Israel." And these 
sons of Israel are clearly the same who have been num- 
bered already, and who are thus contrasted with the 
firstborn children who belonged to them. Next, it is 
said that no Egyptian firstborn was exempt from death, 
because he was the head of a family, since " there was 
not a house where there was not one dead." But this 
proves the reverse, since two or three would often have 
died in the same household on the opposite view. Lastly, 
it is urged that the Levites substituted for them were of 
all ages, from a month upward, and the firstborn must 
be reckoned by the same rule. But this wholly mis- 
takes the real analogy. The primogeniture seems to 
have included three privileges, a double portion, and 
princely and priestly honour. When Reuben forfeited 
his privilege, it became shared among three tribes. 
Joseph had the double portion, to which the name of 
birthright most properly belonged, Judah the prince- 
dom, and Levi the priestly consecration. Hence, in the 
substitution, one distinct tribe was to receive that privi- 
lege among the twelve sons or tribes who formed the 
nation of Israel, which the firstborn sons had possessed 
before in all the separate households. Thus the figura- 
tive sonship of the whole tribe, Levi, compared to the 
whole nation, Israel, replaced the relationship of first- 
born children in the various families to their adult 



72 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

parents. And besides, tlie true view has plainly greater 
symmetry in another way, since it makes the numbered 
firstborn, and the numbered Levites who replace them, 
belong to two classes who had not been numbered 
before. It explains, further, why the numbering and 
redemption of the firstborn was delayed till after the 
numbering of the men, which fixed its superior limit. 

39. This fact being once clearly established, one 
great step is taken towards removing the difficulty 
which, on a loose and general view of the text, has 
appeared so formidable. We have next to inquire the 
probable number of the males under 20 years. Eobin- 
son and Kitto estimate them as equal to those above 
20 years, from the ratio in modern tables of mortality, 
while Kurtz reckons them at 300,000, or perhaps 
400,000. Dr. Colenso seems to incline to the higher 
estimate, as the most reasonable deduction from the 
text. It may easily be proved^ I think, that the lowest 
is very near the truth. 

To see this, we must remember that the numbers 
were constant, or declined very slightly, during the 
forty years in the desert, while they must have in- 
creased rapidly till the Exodus. The 601,730 of the 
second numbering must have been composed of two 
classes. Those from 40 to 60 would be the same who 
were under 20 at the Exodus, and those from 20 to 40 
would consist of sons who were born within 20 years after 
the Exodus. If these two classes had the same ratio to 
each other as in modern tables, the elder half would be 
about 260,000. These consisted of the males too young 
to be numbered the first time, diminished by the deaths 
through 40 years. But it results from Num. xiv., that 
there was a special sentence on those who were num- 
bered, that none of them should enter the land ; and a 
special promise, " Your little ones, who, ye said, would 



THE NUMBER OF THE FISETBORN, 73 

be a prey, them will I bring in, and tbey shall know 
the land which ye have despised." Hence it seems 
highly probable that their mortality in the desert was 
much below the usual average, and 300,000 seems a fair 
and full allowance for their total number. And hence 
the first principle, already established, reduces the ratio 
on which the objection is founded to exactly one-third, 
and gives 300,000 -r- 22,273 = 13i for the number of 
sons to every firstborn. 

40. A second element in the history is hardly less 
important. Those who were to be numbered were 
to be firstborn male children, and not simply eldest 
sons. We may assume, on the average, that the eldest 
birth would be a daughter in every alternate family. 
It would not be very surprising, and be no very serious 
difficulty, if there were a deviation from this equality, 
and the males were even a minority of the firstborn 
children. But without resorting to any hypothesis of 
this kind, the immediate result of the simpler rule is to 
reduce the ratio to exactly half its former amount. 
The two principles, combined, effect precisely a sixfold 
reduction, and the mean number of sons to every 
family becomes therefore 6f instead of 42, the original 
amount. 

41. A third reduction is still required, before the solu- 
tion of the difficulty can be reckoned complete. For 
6f is still too high an average of sons alone, on the scale 
of the entire nation ; since, if the sons and daughters were 
equal, it would imply more than thirteen children in 
every family. But a little reflection will at once supply 
a further reduction, which brings the statement into har- 
mony with the natural requirements of the Sacred 
History. 

When we speak of the number of sons in a family 
in connection with progressive national increase, those 



74 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

wlao die in infancy and cliildhood are plainly excluded, 
and reference is made only to those who reach man- 
hood, and become parents in their turn. Now the 
death of one son may be replaced by the birth of 
another, but the loss of a firstborn is plainly irre- 
parable. Whether, on the average, three, four, ^ve, or 
six sons survive till manhood, all the firstborn plainly 
would not survive. And hence, when the comparison 
is made with the number of sons who attain manhood, 
a third reduction has to be made by the help of tables 
of mortality. Using the Carlisle Tables, for 10,000 
births, the sum total of those surviving in each succes- 
sive year up to twenty, is 141,791. But the total pro- 
duced, excluding deaths, is 200,000. Applying this 
ratio to the previous result, we obtain 4i for the num- 
ber of male children, on the average, who actually sur- 
vived in every Israelite family of that generation. In 
other words, the average number of sons and daughters 
together, if equal at the time of the Exodus, would be at 
the rate of niiie for each household. This ratio of 4i : 1 
differs only by a very slight excess from that which 
existed at the time of the Descent, and would account 
for the increase, if continued throughout the Sojourn 
with intervals very slightly greater than 30 years. 

42. But we may combine this result with the pre- 
vious data in No. 17 in another way. The increase in 
a given descent, when the births are supposed to lie 
evenly on each side of a middle value, the mean length 
of a generation in years, will plainly lie half on each 
side of the mean total. Thus with seven descents of 
30 years, but ranging from 25 to 35, or 20 to 40, one 
half will be born before, and one half after, the expira- 
tion of 210 years. Hence 603550 x 2 -^ 51 = 23669 
is the rate of increase in 203 years, from the mean 
birth-year of the 51 grandsons to the Bible limit. The 



THE NUMBER OF THE FIRiSTBOEN. 75 

yearly rate will be 1.050867, and the length oi descent 
required 30.315 years. Hence the ratio of sons in each 
family, derived from the number of the firstborn, is 
the same which would effect an actual increase from 
the 51 grandsons to the number at the Exodus : if the 
mean length of each descent, instead of 30, the round 
number, or 29i, the most probable average with the 
patriarchs, were 30^ years in length. No coincidence, 
surely, could well be more accurate and complete. 

42. The general result of this reasoning may be 
stated in a simpler way. The Levites 22,000, and the 
firstborn 22,273, are nearly equal to one-fortieth of 
the probable total of males in the twelve tribes, for 
one-fortieth of 900,000 is 22,500. This, at first sight, 
requires in every family, or for each mother, the enor- 
mous and incredible amount of 40 sons and 40 daughters. 
But the true comparison is with non-adult males under 
20 years ; and this reduces the number to 13-|- of each 
sex. Again, it is firstborn males, and not eldest 
sons, who had an elder sister, which alone are num- 
bered ; and this reduces the number to one-half, or 
6f of either sex. But the mean number of children 
who survive at all the ages from to 20, compared 
with the births, are two-thirds. Hence the probably 
surviving firstborn would be two-thirds for the whole 
period, and the number of sons and daughters in each 
family is reduced to 4|, only with the condition that 
those who have died in infancy are not reckoned. 

43. One secondary question remains, whether those 
numbered were the firstlorn by the mother's side 
alone, or both by the father and the mother. The 
decision is not very important to the immediate issue, 
since the circumstances would lead us to conclude 
that double marriages must have been few in that 
generation, though while the number of the people 
was small, or after they settled in the land, they 



76 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

might be more frequent. Dr. Kurtz on the one side, 
and Dr. Oolenso on the other, agree that all the first- 
born, though such by the mother's side only, were to be 
numbered. The opposite view seems to me more pro- 
bable for these reasons : — 

(1). First, the fundamental passage, on which the 
whole judgment upon Egypt and the later consecration 
rests, alludes to the father's side, and to literal or figura- 
tive paternity alone. The message is from Jehovah to 
the rebellious king : * Israel is my son, my firstborn — 
I will slay thy son,. thy firstborn." The same feature 
takes the lead in the later warning of Moses, and its 
execution. It is the firstborn of Pharaoh, not of his 
queen, queens, or concubines, who alone is named. 

(2). Secondly, the words of the Psalm point to the 
same view. The firstborn who were slain are called 
"the chief of all their strength." The term is the 
same as in the sentence on Reuben, and there it plainly 
denotes the firstborn of the father, in contrast to 
Joseph, Dan, and Gad, who were the firstborn of their 
respective mothers. 

(3). Thirdly, the description repeatedly given — 
" every male that openeth the womb," may be viewed as 
a further limitation, to shew that the male firstborn of 
the father in the strictest sense was alone intended, and 
not merely an eldest son, who had a sister still older. 
And this description is further explained, because the 
firstborn of man and beast are often named together, 
and in the latter case the reference would be plainly to 
the female alone. 

(4). Fourthly, the law in Deut. xxi. 15, 17, in the 
case of plurality of wives, expressly limits the title of 
the firstborn to the son who was his father's firstborn, 
as well as his mother's. It seems likely that the 
rule, on which such a stress is laid in the law, would 
apply equally to the priestly consecration. 



THE NUMBER OF THE FIRSTBORN. 77 

(5). Ill all otlier cases, wliere there were two or more 
wives, either together or in succession, the place of the 
firstborn was never shared by two sons of the same 
father. Even in the case of twins, the law of primo- 
geniture was strictly maintained. It must surely be 
the more natural view that the case was the same in 
this great act of priestly consecration. If these reasons 
are just, then the partial existence of polygamy, instead 
of increasing the supposed difficulty, would tend directly 
to remove it. It will then be necessary that there should 
be 4i sons, on the average, not to every wife, but to 
every father. 

44. One further objection remains. It is inferred, 
from the number in the text, that there would be only 
60,000 wives or mothers to 600,000 men, which is in- 
credible. But here, first of all, the more correct 
number, by the previous reckoning, will be 22,273 x 3 
= 66,819, or 67,000 mothers of as many firstborn. 
Next, from the general rate of increase, while the 
grown-up males at the Exodus were 600,000, the 
increase in their number in the last decade but one 
would be about 140,000, and in the last 10 years, 
240,000. We have only to suppose, then, that when 
Goshen had become thickly peopled, and a time of 
great oppression was joined with the hope of deliver- 
ance, only one-half of those who reached the age 
of 25 years, between five and fifteen years before the 
Exodus, married, and that within -B.Ye years of the Exodus 
there were few marriages of the youngest men. Such a 
temporary restraint of marriage, under the double in- 
fluence of increased populousness and growing oppres- 
sion, mingled with hopes of coming change, is plainly a 
very probable event. It can form no presumption 
against the correctness of the history, but is rather a 
secret mark of its reality and truth. 



78 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER YII. 

THE FIRST PASSOVER. 

45. The sacred narrative of tlie Descent and Sojourn 
in Egypt has now been cleared from tlie main objections a 
rasb and hasty criticism has brought against it, founded 
on the rapid increase in the number of the people, and 
the smallness of the number of the firstborn. Its 
internal consistency has been shewn to rest on a basis 
of mathematical evidence. It is time now to examine 
the second class of objections, which depend on the 
actual circumstances of the Exodus, the journey through 
the Desert, and the entrance on the Promised Land. 

The First Passover, the opening of this eventful his- 
tory, has pledges of its truth so various and decisive, 
that it is not easy to see how they could be increased. 
It gave birth to a yearly festival of the whole nation, 
which lasted fifteen hundred years ; and two main eras 
of reformation were marked by its revival, from com- 
parative neglect, into the freshness of its early youth 
again. It was then consecrated anew by that sentence 
from the lips of the Son of God, " With desire I have 
desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer," 
and by its consummation in his sacrifice on the cross at 
the very time of its observance by the people. Since 
that hour the legal shadow, shorn of its glory after the 
fall of the second temple, has been retained by the 



THE FIKST PASSOVER. 79 

Jewish people in their widest dispersion, with jealous 
care. Its counterpart under the Gospel, the Lord's sup- 
per has also borne witness, for eighteen centuries, wher- 
ever the name of Christ is known, to the reality and moral 
grandeur of that redemption from Egypt, and that first 
Passover, from which it plainly derives its own birth. 
The connection, we are taught by the Holy Spirit, is of 
the most intimate and vital kind. " For even Christ 
our Passover is sacrificed for us ; therefore let us keep 
the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven 
of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth." The whole Church of 
Christ echoes these words of the Apostle, and enshrines 
the same truth in her acts of most solemn worship. 
" For He is the very Paschal Lamb, who was offered 
for us, and hath taken away the sin of the world ; who 
by his death hath overcome death, and by his rising to 
life again hath restored to us everlasting life. There- 
fore^ with angels and archangels, and with all the 
company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious 
name." 

An attempt, then, to fix a charge of falsehood on this 
portion of the Bible, within the Church, and in the 
name of the God of truth, is cause for the deepest 
amazement. That sin of despising Moses' law, for 
which the just sentence of old was to perish without 
mercy under two or three witnesses, seems, in some 
minds, to have had its moral features wholly reversed, 
and to be mistaken, in these latter days, for one of the 
cardinal virtues of genuine Christianity. But our 
surprise must be redoubled, when we examine the 
indictment, and find that a blunder, so gross as to be 
almost incredible, is the basis on which a conclusion so 
momentous, and so disastrous to the faith of the whole 
Church, has been made to depend. 



80 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

46. The main objection brought against the history- 
is of this kind. 

According to the Book of Exodus, " the whole 
immense population of Israel, as large as that of 
London, were instructed to keep the Passover, and 
actually did keep it, in a single day. It cannot be said 
that they had notice several days beforehand, or that 
ver. 12, meant only that they were to keep it on the 
14th of Nisan. For the expression is distinctly * this 
night' in ver. 12, and in ver. 14, * this day shall be unto 
you for a memorial,' while in xi. 4 the message runs — 
' About midnight will I go out into the land of Egypt/ 
where certainly the very next midnight must be in- 
tended." It is true that " the story as it now stands" 
with the directions about taking the lamb on the 10th 
and keeping it to the 14th, is perplexing and contra- 
dictory ; but this self-contradiction is only a phe- 
nomenon usual in the Bible histories. Again, the 
Israelites must have been scattered over a large space, 
because of their flocks. The passover would require a 
flock of two millions, or 400,000 acres of pasture. The 
difficulty, then, of the message being either commu- 
nicated or followed out in a single day is so great as to 
be historically impossible. 

47. Let us now turn from the objection to the words 
of the sacred text. 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the 
land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you 
the beginning of months : it shall be the first month of 
the year to you. Speak unto all the congregation of 
Israel, saying. In the tenth day of this month they 
shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the 

house of their fathers ; a lamb for a house And 

ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same 
month : and the whole assembly of the congregation of 



THE FIKST PASSOVER. : 81 

Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take 
of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on 
the upper door-post of the houses, wherein they shall eat 
it. . . . Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, 
and said unto them. Draw out and take you a lamb 
according to your families, and kill the passover. . . . 
And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And 
the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord 
commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they." 

Nothing, surely, can be plainer than this whole 
passage. When the month Nisan was come, and 
probably soon after its new moon appeared, Moses and 
Aaron received a message from Grod, with full instruc- 
tions to all the people. On the coming tenth day they 
were to set apart a lamb for each household, to sacrifice 
it before sunset on the fourteenth day, and to keep the 
Paschal supper in their houses the following night, 
which belonged, in Jewish reckoning, to the fifteenth 
day. That very night, they were told, the firstborn 
of the Egyptians would be slain, and the next day 
would be the time of their long expected deliverance. 
" The children of Israel went away, and did as the 
Lord commanded Moses and Aaron." In other words, 
after receiving the Divine message, they set apart the 
lamb on the tenth of Nisan, kept it up for Rye days till 
the fourteenth, slew it in the evening, and partook of 
its flesh, roasted with fire, during the night that fol- 
lowed. " By faith they kept the passover, and the 
sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first- 
born should touch them." How, after so clear a state- 
ment, it could ever be imagined that the charge itself 
was given on the fourteenth, a few hours only before 
the supper ; and an assault on the faith of the Church 
for three thousand years be built on such an error, is 
indeed a marvel not easy to explain. 

a 



82 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

48. The reason offered for this gross misinterpre- 
tation is the mention of this nighty in ver. 12, and this 
day in ver. 14. Let us see what Hght the context 
throws on these expressions. It reads thus — 

" And they shall eat the flesh in that nighty roast with 
fire, and unleavened bread ; and with bitter herbs they 
shall eat it. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until 
the morning ; and that which remaineth of it until the 
morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it ; 
with your loins girt, your shoes on your feet, and your 
staff in your hand ; and ye shall eat in haste : it is the 
Lord's passover. For I will pass through the land of 
Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the 
land of Egypt. . . . And this day shall be unto you for a 
memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord 
throughout your generations ; ye shall keep it a feast by 
an ordinance for ever. . . . And ye shall observe the 
feast of unleavened bread ; for in this self-same day have 
I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt ; there- 
fore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an 
ordinance for ever.'* 

What can be plainer than this statement, or more 
truthful and natural than the phraseology ? Nisan 14 
is first of all fixed, as the day on which the lamb is to 
be slain. Being still future, though very near, it is 
commanded them, " Ye shall eat the flesh in that night, 
roast with fire." Being so very near, and the pro- 
minent subject of the whole message, on which every 
instruction centered, it is said further, " For on this 
night I will pass through the land of Egypt" — on this 
night, so near at hand, already named, the grand 
subject of the whole institution. To use the expression, 
that night, a second time, would rob the message of its 
dramatic power, and convey a false impression of 
actual remoteness. It would destroy the harmony of 



THE FIKST PASSOYEK. 83 

the words with the Person of that Divine Lawgiver, 
with whom not one brief fortnight only, but even " a 
thousand years, are as one day." 

The misconstruction in the other case is still more 
inexcusable. For what is this day^ appointed to be 
a feast for ever? Clearly it is Nisan 15, the great 
festival day of the Passover, which began on the 
morning after the supper was finished. The reason 
is given for its lasting celebration, — " For in this self- 
same day have I brought your armies out of the land of 
Egypt." If the words, this night, in ver. 12, prove that 
the charge was given Nisan 14, only a few hours before 
the Paschal supper ; then ver. 14, 17, where this day is 
named, will prove that it was given Nisan 15, after the 
supper was finished, and when the Exodus was accom- 
plished ! For the phrase is even more emphatic, " Ye 
shall keep this day for a memorial ; for this self-same day 
I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt, '^ 

It is urged, however, that the warning, ''About 
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt," 
must refer to the midnight next ensuing. Now if this 
were true and certain, what conclusion would follow ? 
Plainly, that the historian ends his account of the in- 
terview with Pharaoh, and then reverts for a few 
days, entering on a distinct subject, to describe all ihQ 
steps in the appointment of that solemn festival, which 
was the national birthday of the people of Israel. 
There is nothing which absolutely excludes the sup- 
position, that the three days of» miraculous darkness 
were the same with the interval during which the 
lambs were set apart for sacrifice. On the other 
hand, the prediction of the hour of the judgment 
cannot, of itself, prove that the day was also foretold. 
The inference from xi. 4 is therefore doubly groundless. 
It has no force at all, if the nearest midnight were really 

G 2 



84 THE EXODITS OF ISEAEL. 

meant, and there is no proof or sign, eitlier in the text 
or context, that such must be the meaning. 

In fine, this charge of falsehood against the account 
of the Passover, from the use of the pronoun in 
ver. 12, 14, is just as wise and reverent, as it would be to 
affirm boldly that our Lord was a false prophet, because 
the translation of the saints, or at least the judgment on 
Jerusalem, did not occur the very night after the 
question of the Pharisees, and his own answer, Luke 
xvii. 20-34, 37. The G-reek pronoun is there the same 
as in the Septuagint of Exod. xiii. 2, and has the same 
meaning. " I tell you that this night there shall be two 
men in one bed, one shall be taken, and the other left. 
And they said, Where, Lord ? And he said, Where- 
soever the carcase is, thither will the eagles be gathered 
together." 

49. But another difficulty is found or fancied in the 
number of lambs to be slain at the Passover, and the 
extent of pasture they would require. The steps of 
the argument are these. First, the total number of the 
Israelites must have been at least two milhons. Next, 
Josephus makes a Paschal company vary from ten to 
twenty persons. One would imply 200,000 lambs, and 
the other 100,000, we may take for a mean 150,000. 
These were males, and one third more must have been 
reserved for breeding, so that all the lambs of that 
season would be 400,000. But the lambs of one season, 
according to Australian sheepmasters, are one fifth of 
the whole flock, and with good land ^yq sheep may be 
pastured on one acre. The flocks, then, for the 
Passover, would require 400,000 acres of pasture, or 
625 square miles. Over such a space, it is inferred, 
the people must have been spread. How then, could 
instructions so minute have reached every household 
through so wide a space, and been followed within 



THE FIRST PASSOVER. 85 

twelve hours, wlien life and death, rested on their 
strict observance ? 

The main strength of this objection rests on the fun- 
damental error, already exposed, that there was a 
notice only of twelve hours, instead of ten or fourteen 
days. But beside this main falsehood, every other 
element, which composes it, is almost equally worthless. 

First, the total number of Israelites at the Exodus is 
probably overstated, though slightly. It will be shewn 
hereafter that from 1,700,000 to 1,800,000 is the most 
likely number, when all the data are thoughtfully com- 
pared. Next, if twenty was a frequent number for one 
Paschal company in peaceful times at Jerusalem, there 
is no necessity for a lower average in Egypt, where the 
families must have been large from their rate of increase, 
and crowded in and near Eameses before their expected 
departure. The number of lambs probably needed would 
thus be only 90,000. Instead of one in three, as assumed, 
one in ten, as we see from Gen. xxxii. 14, is a fair al- 
lowance for the rams of the flock ; which gives 200,000 
for all the lambs of the first year, instead of twice that 
number. Next, the ratio of five to one for the whole 
flock is taken from Australia, where the sheep are kept 
almost entirely for their wool, and the flesh is of little 
value. In England, where they are kept mainly for 
the meat, as in Groshen, 100 ewes wiU give 100 to 140 
lambs in a season ; as may be learned from any village 
shepherd. Hence, finally, a flock of 200,000 ewes, 
instead of ten times the number, would provide the 
lambs really required for the Passover. Instead of 625 
square miles, the size of Hertfordshire, these, at ^yq 
to the acre, would need only 60 or 70 square miles, one 
twentieth of an average English county. Finally, it is 
quite absurd to suppose that the flocks must have been 
spread over the whole space required for their perma- 



86 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

nent pasture, on tlie very eve of migration, for wliich 
several weeks' preparation had evidently been made. 

50. The supposed difficulties of the march from 
Eameses to Succoth have been stated in the following 
way : — ■ 

" It appears, from Num. i. 3, ii. 32, that the six hun- 
dred thousand were the men in the prime of life," from 
twenty years old and upward, all that were able to 
go forth to war in Israel.^ This large number of able- 
bodied warriors implies a total population of at least 
two millions.^ We have this vast body of people of 
all ages summoned to start, according to the story, at 
a moment's notice f and actually started, not one being 
left behind_, together with flocks and herds, which must 
have been spread out over a district as large as a 
good-sized English county.* What shall be said of 
the sick and infirm, or the women in recent or immi- 
nent childbirth, in a population as large as London, 
where the births are 264 a day ?^ " We are required to 
believe that, in one single day, the order to start was 
communicated suddenly, at midnight, to every single 
family of every town or village, through a tract of 
country as large as Hertfordshire, but ten times as 
thickly peopled : that, having first borrowed from their 
Egyptian neighbours in all directions, they came in 
from all parts of the land of Goshen to Rameses, bring- 
ing with them the sick and infirm, the young and 
aged ; further, that since receiving the summons, they 
sent out to gather in all their flocks and herds, spread 
over so wide a district, and had driven them also to 
Rameses ; and lastly, that having done all this, since 
they were roused at midnight, they were started again 
from Eameses that Very same day, and marched on to 
Succoth, not leaving a single sick or infirm person, a 
single woman in childbirth, or a single hoof behind 



THE FinST PASSOVER. 87 

them. This is, undoubtedly, what the story in tlie 
Book of Exodus requires us to believe." (P. E., 
pp. 61, 62.) 

Here we have an avalanche of critical errors, which 
begins with slight inaccuracies, and passes on to mis- 
statements and perversions of the text, really prodigious 
and amazing. 

(1). First, the numbering was of the males from 
twenty years and upward, and not simply of those in 
the prime of life. Age alone was no exclusion, for 
Oaleb was a warrior at 85 years of age, and Elishama, 
who was captain of the host of Ephraim in the first 
numbering, was the grandfather of Joshua. Invalids, 
if permanently such, would alone be excluded by the 
definition ; but we are told elsewhere that " there was 
not one feeble person among their tribes." Hence, 
from Ps, cv. 37, Num. xiv. 29, 31, xxvi. 64, 65, Deut. 
i. 35, it is almost certain that the number included the 
males of all ages above twenty years. 

(2), Next, this implied a total number of from seven- 
teen to eighteen hundred thousand, or about three-fifths 
of the present population of London, a million less 
than the objection virtually assumes. 

(3). The '' moment's notice" consisted of two or three 
months' general preparation and growing expectancy, 
ever siuce the first message of Moses, confirmed by 
miracles and signs, Exod. iv. 29. *^ And the people 
believed : and when they heard that the Lord had 
visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked 
upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads 
and worshipped." This growing expectancy and pre- 
paration, during nine successive plagues, and some 
interval between each of them, was followed by ten 
days or a fortnight of express directions from Grod, 
attended by the promise of their release and de- 



88 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

parture on a particular day. Except so far as the 
alarm of the Egyptians hurried them at the last 
moment, the circumstances answered to those of the 
predicted return from Babylon : " Ye shall not go out 
in haste, nor go by flight, for the Lord shall go before 
you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward." 

(4). The only light we have on the number of the 
flocks, is from the brief statement, that they had " very 
much cattle." But it is a strange error to suppose that 
they must have been scattered through all Goshen till 
the last day. Before the eighth plague of locusts, the 
claim for the flocks and herds to go with them had been 
formally made, and repeated more sternly before the 
destruction of the firstborn. The celebration of the 
Passover in their houses implied a gathering of the 
flocks into the neighbourhood of their homes, ready for 
the expected journey ; and the distance of the furthest 
from Rameses or the camp, before they assembled, would 
probably be not much more than 50 miles. 
. (5). The births, in the same proportion as London, 
would be only 160, and not 264 a day. But, from the 
numberings in the wilderness, they were probably still 
fewer. The rapid inqrease in the last generation, and 
the crowded peopling of Goshen, had plainly put a 
sudden arrest on early marriages. When Jacob came 
down to Egypt, Pharaoh himself provided wagons for 
" the wives and little ones," Gen. xlvi. 5. Are w^e to 
suppose that the God of Israel, and Moses his servant, 
were less careful for the wants of the same class, who 
are made the subject of distinct and peculiar promises of 
help and protection in a later deliverance ? Jer. xxxi. 8. 

(6). The freedom from sickness, as Scott has ob- 
served in his Commentary, is the object of an express 
affirmation in the Psalms. " The Psalmist informs us," 
he says, " that there was not one feeble person among 



THE FIRST TASSOVER. 8$ 

their tribes. This was a very extraordinary circum- 
stance, which the history of the world cannot parallel. 
Yet it was very suitable to the condition of those who 
had sufficient incumbrances in their march, without 
invalids to take care of." 

This sensible remark of the venerable and judicious 
commentator shares the fate of the inspired text, and is 
made ridiculous by a strange perversion of its evident 
meaning. " It would have been, indeed," it is said, " an 
extraordinary circumstance in the history of mankind, 
if a mixed multitude like this could muster 600,000 
men fit for war, and not contain one single infant, or 
young child, or pregnant woman, or aged person, or 
invalid !" No doubt it would, both extraordinary and 
incredible. What the commentator says, however, is 
exactly the reverse ; that since they had sufficient in- 
evitable incumbrances, of infants, children, the aged, 
and pregnant women, it was a special and gracious 
Providence that they had " no invalids to take care of" 
in addition to all the rest. This is all that the words of 
the Psalm imply, and all that the commentator infers 
from them, and the good sense and simple faith of his 
remark form a strong contrast to the comment which 
has been made upon it. In fact, the incident in 
Exod. XV. 26, naturally implies what the Psalm directly 
affirms. The first title which Jehovah assumes after 
the Exodus, is the Healer of Israel ; and a promise of 
continued freedom from the diseases of the Egyptians is 
made to them, on condition of their obedience to the 
statutes and commandments of their God. 

51. The closing description is thus a concentration of 
errors, which " the story in Exodus " undoubtedly does 
not require us to believe. On almost every point it 
does require us to believe the exact reverse ; that they 
had ten days' or a fortnight's notice for coming to- 



90 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

getlier ; that all this time tlie very day for their actual 
journey had been distin^jtly announced to them ; that 
they had no sick and infirm to bring, because " the 
Lord that healeth " had kept from them the diseases to 
which the Egyptians were exposed ; that the hurry, 
from the midnight alarm of the Egyptians, affected 
chiefly their baking, because the preparation of bread 
for a long journey would naturally be delayed till they 
were on the point to move ; that their flocks and herds 
were previously gathered, in expectation of this re- 
moval ; and that they went out " with a high hand," 
in orderly array, helped, and not hindered, by the 
Egyptians, who longed for their departure ; like victors 
bearing away the spoil of vanquished enemies, and not 
like a mob of timorous slaves, escaping in haste and 
confusion from their oppressors. All this the sacred 
narrative does undoubtedly require us to believe, and 
not that miserable counterfeit of the mighty work of 
the God of Israel, which a rash and ignorant style of 
criticism would obtrude on us in its stead. Such a 
perverted comment on the wonders of the Exodus 
repeats the sin of Israel at the foot of the mount, and 
turns the glory of the only God, the God of Israel, 
into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay. The words 
of the Apostle sweep away in a moment all these vain 
and foolish parodies of that great deliverance, while he 
sets it before us as a noble and lasting exhibition of the 
power of faith, and of the triumphs to which it leads. 
" By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of 
the king : for he endured, as seeing Him that is invisible. 
By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of 
blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should 
touch them. By faith they passed through the Red 
Sea as by dry land : which the Egyptians assaying to do 
were drowned. . , . Wherefore seeing we also are com- 



THE FIEST PASSOVER. 91 

passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us 
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily 
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is 
set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and 
Finisher of our faith." Our faith must be grounded on 
the type, the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood 
in Egypt ; and be perfected in the contemplation of the 
Lamb of God, its glorious antitype, if we would be 
Christians in deed and in truth. 



92 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE TENTS AND AEMS OF THE ISRAELITES. 

52. The tents and armour of tlie Israelites have 
been made tlie ground of a sceptical charge against tlie 
veracity of the sacred historian. How conld they pro- 
cure them ? How could their tents, for so numerous a 
multitude, be conveyed through the desert ? Let us 
consider each objection in order. 

First, in Exod. xvi. 16, the charge is given con- 
cerning the manna : *• Take ye every man for them 
which are in his tents." But in Lev. xxiii. 43, we 
have the words : " That your generations may know 
that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, 
when I brought them out of the land of Egypt." 
There is not, however, it is thought, the slightest trace 
in the story that they ever did live in booths, nor is it 
conceivable where they could have done so. It is true 
that the word is Succoth, the name of their first station. 
It has thus been suggested that the words may mean, 
" I made them to dwell in Succoth," so that the feast 
might commemorate a transition stage, when they had 
left their houses, but not yet begun to live in tents. But 
this does not satisfy the objector's mind, since they did 
not dwell in Succoth, but it was merely a passing sta- 
tion. How could they procure tents ? They would 
require 200,000 ; and they were not living in tents in 
Egypt, as we learn from Exod. xii. 7, 22. How could 



THE TENTS AND AKMS OF THE ISRAELITES. 93 

tlicy have borne them ? A canvas tent for two per- 
sons weighs from 25 to 40 pounds, so that these alone 
would require 50,000 men. " But oxen are not usually 
trained to carry goods on their shoulders as pack-oxen, 
and w411 not do so, if untrained." 

53. The difficulty of replying to this singular objec- 
tion arises simply from one cause, that the history 
supplies few details with regard to the nature, con- 
struction, and conveyance of the tents of the Israelites 
during their journey. No one, probably, familiar with 
the customs of the East, would either feel any per- 
plexity, or think further information needful. The 
tents used by English gentlemen in their travels 
for pleasure and amusement, either in Africa or 
Asia, are plainly ill-adapted to furnish any reliable 
data in such an inquiry. But the facts, which are 
clear and patent, are enough to shew the emptiness of 
that scepticism, which dares to impute falsehood to the 
lively oracles of God, on the ground that the people 
could not possibly have provided themselves with tents, 
or transported them from place to place during their 
journey through the wilderness. 

First of all, it is tolerably clear that their tents, 
instead of being for two or three persons, were adapted 
for nearly ten times the number. Thus Dathan and 
Abiram lived in their tents with two younger genera- 
tions. This would probably be the usual arrangement, 
where the patriarchal element was in full operation. 
In this case, from the rate of increase of the people, 
there would usually be two seniors, about ten sons and 
daughters, or daughters in law, and from ten to twenty 
grandchildren, some adult, and others in all ages of 
childhood. From the later rule of the Paschal com- 
panies, twenty souls to each tent may be reckoned 
a probable average for the wilderness, where it 



94 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

would plainly be an object not to multiply tbem with- 
out necessity. This would imply 90,000 tents, or an 
average of 7500 for every tribe. 

Next, there is nothing in the history which requires 
us to suppose that they were carried on the backs of 
oxen or of camels. At the descent of Jacob's family, 
wagons were sent by Pharaoh, to convey the wives 
and little ones ; and in the second year of the Exodus, 
wagons were offered by the princes of each tribe for 
the service of the sanctuary. We may draw the pro- 
bable inference that a number of wagons belonged to 
each tribe, under the guidance of its proper heads or 
leaders, and were used for the conveyance of the 
heavier part of their tent furniture, and other utensils 
of weight. The wagons of the princes were drawn 
by two oxen a-piece. It is surely not improbable that 
the heavy part of the tent fittings for ten families might 
be conveyed in one wagon, in which case 750 wa- 
gons for each tribe, or 9000 for the whole people, would 
be enough for their conveyance. Thus the presence of 
twenty or thirty thousand draught oxen, and half as 
many wagons, is all that would be required for the 
unavoidable incumbrances of so immense an army. 
There is here, surely, not the most distant approach to 
an historical impossibility. 

54. The further doubt, suggested by Lev. xxiii. 40- 
43, and the command to dwell in booths at the feast of 
tabernacles, in perpetual memory of the Exodus, instead 
of supplying any valid objection to the narrative, is 
rather an indirect evidence of its consistency and truth. 

And first, there is no such contrast, as the objection 
implies, between the meaning of the two words. The 
word ohel, or tent, would include succoth, or booths, as 
one particular kind. Thus the army of David, accord- 
ing to Uriah, 2 Sam. xi. 11, were dwelling in succoth^ 



THE TENTS AND ARMS OF THE ISRAELITES. 95 

where the Greek version has Iv arKrjvai?^ and the English 
version, in tents. In the wilderness itself, the Israel- 
ites are charged by the prophet Amos with having 
taken up the tabernacle or tent {succoth) of their 
Moloch. The standing Greek name of the feast of 
succoth was the scenopegia. It is plain, then, that the 
passage in Leviticus implies no contrast between tents 
and booths, but only shews that tents of one particular 
kind were used, in some part at least of their long 
journey. 

But a comparison of the passages will, perhaps, war- 
rant us in proceeding a step further. We read in 
Gen. xxxiii. 17 : *' And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and 
built him a house, and made booths (succoth) for his 
cattle : therefore the name of the place is called Succoth!' 
Here we see that Succoth east of Jordan (comp. Judges 
viii. 5, 6, 14-16) received its permanent name from the 
fact that Jacob made booths there for his cattle on his 
return from Padan-aram. Now we read in Exod. xii. 
37, " The children of Israel journeyed from Eameses to 
Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were 
men, besides children." Then in xiii. 20, " They took 
their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, on 
the edge of the wilderness." Here Succoth is plainly a 
midway station between Eameses, and Etham, near 
Suez, or the northern end of the Red Sea. The name 
is evidently Hebrew, and not Egyptian. The account 
in Genesis of the other Succoth points naturally to the 
inference, that the name was given because of the fact, 
that the encampment here also was in booths. The chil- 
dren of Israel had finally left their houses, where they 
dwelt among the Egyptians, or were settled in Goshen, 
and the door-posts of which had been sprinkled with 
the blood of the Passover ; but had not yet entered the 
wilderness, so as to rely wholly on curtains for shelter, 



96 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

with no help from the foliage of a woody country. 
They may very probably have waited at this their first 
station for two or three days, to prepare and complete 
their unfinished tent equipage for the wilderness, on the 
edge of which lay Etham, their next resting place. 
Meanwhile, having left their houses behind, they would 
make use of all the un trimmed materials, " boughs of 
goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick 
trees, and willows of the brook," while the women 
might be occupied in framing the tent curtains, and 
the men in preparing convenient poles or uprights, for 
their use in all the later stages of their long journey. 
Indeed it seems plain, if they were collected near 
Rameses before the march began, as the narrative 
plainly implies, that a large proportion of them must 
have dwelt there in succoth^ or temporary booths ; 
since the Israelite houses in Rameses, however 
crowded, would not be likely to contain one-half of the 
whole number. Still, before their march this mode of 
dwelling would be only partial. When they reached 
this first midway stage, it would include the whole 
encampment, and would very naturally give name, in 
the sacred history, to the station where the transition 
to a life in tents began. All the circumstances, on 
this view, agree perfectly together, and the law in 
Leviticus receives a clear and consistent explanation. 
In the words " that your generations may know that 
I made the children of Israel to dwell in succoth, 
when I brought them out of the land of Egypt," 
succoth will denote the booths themselves in which 
they dwelt ; and still there will be a direct allusion to 
Succoth, their first station, which derived its name from 
the very same fact, of which the law was designed 
to be a lasting memorial. 

55. The armour of the Israelites gives birth to a 



THE TENTS AND ARMS OF THE ISRAELITES. 97 

second objection, very similar to the last. We read 
in xiii. 18, that " the children of Israel went up harnessed 
{chamushim) out of the land of Egypt." The word, it 
is said, means armed, or in battle array, in all the other 
passages Josh. i. 14, iv. 12 ; Judges vii. 11 ; and Num. 
xxxii. 17 ; and all the other renderings proposed, by 
Jive in a rank, by fifties, in the fifth generation (Sept.), 
or in five columns (Fuller) are rejected as untenable. 
Besides, they must have had armour when they fought 
with Amalek soon after, and " we must suppose the 
whole body of 600,000 warriors were armed, when they 
were numbered under Mount Sinai. They possessed 
arms surely at that time, according to the story. How 
did they get them, unless they took them out of 
Egypt ?" It is, however, inconceivable, it is said, that 
these down-trodden, oppressed people, should have been 
allowed by Pharaoh to turn out at a moment's notice 
600,000 armed men. The idea is extravagant, that 
they could have borrowed them on the night of the 
Exodus, for the warriors were a distinct caste in Egypt. 
And besides, how could they have been smitten with 
fear and terror, in this case, at the pursuit of Pharaoh ? 
Thus it is inferred that whether we allow them or deny 
them to have possessed weapons, the difficulty of the 
account is equally insurmountable. (P. E. ch. ix. 
pp. 48-53.) 

bQ, The reply to this objection is very simple and 
easy. 

First, the word chamushim, rendered harnessed in our 
version, and in the margin, by five in a ranh, differs 
only in its points from the Hebrew word chameshim, 
fifty, a plural form from chamesh, five. That it has 
some relation or other to the numeral has evidently 
impressed a large proportion of the best interpreters. 
Thus the Seventy translate in the fifth generation, and 

H 



"98 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

Fuller, Scott and others, in Jive colwmis^ while our 
own translators hesitate between the two senses, har- 
nessedy and hy five in a rank. On the other hand, 
Aquila, Symmachus, and the Yulgate, agree in the 
version, (aTrXiaiuLevoL and armati, or armed. 

Now it is plain and notorious that two things, distinct 
in themselves, go to complete the training of a soldier ; 
military drill, and the possession and use of weapons. 
Either of these may be learned and practised, to a great 
extent, without the other ; and, in the case of our volun- 
teers, the comparative attention due to each of them has 
excited some lively discussion. Of these two -ideas the 
derivation of the word before us, or at least its common 
root with the numbers five and fifty, suggests plainly 
that the first, and not the second, is the true meaning. 
Captains of hundreds and captains of fifties (Deut. i. 15, 
XX. 9 ; 2 Kings i. 9-13) were usual ranks in the Jewish 
armies. The term might thus be literally rendered, 
perhaps, fiftified, and means strictly, " regularly mar- 
shalled " in contrast to a confused and disorderly array, 
but has no direct reference to the possession of military 
weapons. The verse will denote that, in orderly ar- 
rangement, and all the features of discipline, distinct 
from the universal possession of shields and swords or 
spears, the moving host had the character of a vast 
military array. This view of the meaning agrees 
perfectly with the three other places of its occurrence, 
Josh. iv. 12, i. 14; Judges vii. 11. Military array 
will often imply the possession of military weapons, 
but the two ideas are plainly distinct in themselves. 

57. Next, it is a strange notion, on which the ob- 
jection is built, that the Israelites must either have 
been wholly without weapons, or else the whole number 
of 600,000 have been provided with them. All the facts 
of the history point to a middle view, which removes the 



THE TENTS AND ARMS OF THE ISRAELITES. 99 

imaginary difficulty in a moment. It would be strange, 
indeed, if none of tlie valiant men amongst them were 
able to procure them in Egypt, when the Egyptians 
were anxious to aid them in their journey ; and if the 
same people, who built the tabernacle shortly after, were 
wholly unable to manufacture either bucklers or spears. 
On the other hand, the history neither requires nor 
permits us to suppose that the whole host were in 
possession of complete armour, or would have been able 
to use it effectually, at the time of the Exodus. If one 
in ten only had weapons at the first, and most of these 
rude and imperfect, this is all that the circumstances 
render probable, and agrees well with the account of their 
conflict with Amalek, and of their deep alarm at the 
pursuit of Pharaoh. The supposition, that " according 
to the story " they all were well armed, when they were 
numbered in the wilderness of Sinai, has no single 
grain of evidence in its favour. We might suppose, 
with equal reason, that the Israelites had thirteen 
hundred thousand complete suits of armour in the days 
of David ; while in those of Saul there were only two 
swords and spears in the whole army, when mustered 
against the Philistines. A partial possession of arms 
at the Exodus is just as probable and natural, as the 
possession of them by six hundred thousand men would 
be perplexing and hard to explain. 



h2 



JOO THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FLOCKS OF ISRAEL IN THE DESERT, 

58. An objection to tlie trutli of tlie Scripture nar- 
rative, urged at greater length, is the impossibility of 
the sheep and cattle of the Israelites being supported 
forty years in the wilderness. 

And first, it is said, the story certainly represents 
them as possessing these flocks and herds during the 
whole of the forty years they spent in the wilderness. 
For in the second year Moses asks, " Shall the flocks and 
the herds be slain for them, to suffice them ?" Num. 
xi. 22. And in the fortieth year " the children of 
Reuben and of Grad had a very great multitude of 
cattle." Num. xxxii. 1. It is true that this is said 
after the capture of many cattle and sheep from the 
Midianites ; but that spoil was divided among the 
people, and therefore they must have been so noted 
before the plunder of the Midianites. Accordingly, at 
the end of the first year, they kept the second Passover 
under Sinai, and therefore had then two millions of 
sheep close at hand. Again, these flocks and herds 
cannot have been scattered far and wide through the 
peninsula, to find pasture ; for of this the story says 
nothing, and imphes nothing, and they would have 
required to be guarded by large bodies of armed men. 
For twelve months at least, they were collected under 
Mount Sinai, till the second Passover, and came thither 



THE FLOCKS OF ISKAEL IN THE DESERT. 101 

with those immense bodies of sheep and oxen ; whence 
we read of the charge^ '^ Neither let the flocks nor herds 
feed before that mount." Lastly, it cannot be pretended 
that the state of the country has undergone any mate- 
rial change. For it was described then, as it is now 
'' a desert land " and " a waste howling wilderness." 
Dent, xxxii. 10. And by the people — " It is no place of 
seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates ; neither 
is there any water to drink." Num. xx. 4, 5. It is 
similarly described Deut. viii. 15 ; Jer. ii. 6. To these 
difficulties must be added the winter's cold. Com- 
paring these statements with modern descriptions of 
the desolate character of the whole district, it is in- 
ferred that the narrative cannot possibly be true. 

59. Here the first inquiry must naturally be, What 
proof is there, in the Scripture narrative, that the 
Israelites had immense flocks and herds throughout the 
forty years of their stay in the wilderness ? And the 
plain answer is, None whatever. The whole objection 
rests on a mere assumption, for which the sacred text 
itself does not afford the least warrant. 

When the people departed from Rameses, they took 
with them " flocks and herds, very much cattle." No 
exact estimate of the numbers is given. It must na- 
turally be inferred that, in passing through a barren 
district, a large portion would be slain to supply them 
with food, and that only when their own means were 
in danger of being exhausted would miraculous help be 
given. Accordingly, the gift of quails and manna was 
one full month after the Exodus. By that time the 
murmur was heard, " Would we had died by the hand 
of the .Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the 
fleshpots, and did eat bread to the full ; for ye have 
brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole 
assembly with hunger." xvi. 3. Such a complaint 



102 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

would be unreasonable and unnatural, if the flocks and 
herds were still so numerous as to furnish an ample 
supply of flesh for the whole congregation. They had 
the hope, ere long, of taking possession of the land of 
Canaan, where they would find cattle in abundance, 
without the toil and distraction of seeking to keep 
immense droves alive in a barren desert. On the other 
hand, a considerable number of beasts of burden would 
be needed in various ways, and a certain proportion of 
sheep and cattle, and especially for sacrifice. But the 
complaint of the people implies that the month's con- 
sumption had nearly exhausted their stores, that their 
'' fleshpots " could be supplied no longer, and that 
famine, in the desert of Sinai, began to stare them 
in the face. We may infer that from this time, be- 
sides the beasts of burden, the other cattle, sheep or 
oxen, were comparatively few. The words of Exod. 
xxxiv. 3, " neither let the flocks nor herds feed before 
that mount " are not in the least opposed to this con- 
clusion. For any number of cattle which might feed 
in the limited plain, before Mount Sinai, would be few 
in comparison with the flocks in the whole extent of the 
land of Groshen. 

60. Two proofs are said to make it certain that " the 
story represents them as possessing " their great mul- 
titude of flocks and herds throughout the forty years. 
Both of these, by a sort of fatality of error, tend to 
prove exactly the reverse. 

The first is the question of Moses, before the second 
supply of quails was given. " The people, among whom 
I am, are six hundred thousand footmen ; and thou hast 
said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole 
month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for 
them, to suffice them ? or shall all the fish of the sea 
be gathered together for them, to suffice them ? And 



THE FLOCKS OF ISKAEL IN THE DESERT. 103 

tlie Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed 
short ? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come 
to pass unto thee or not." The comment assumes the 
sense to be, Shall the flocks and herds which are 
actually with us, be slain, to supply the wants of the 
people ? But if these would furnish an ample supply, 
the murmuring of the people, because no food but the 
manna was within reach, would be unaccountable. Or 
how could Moses, in that case, have put the question in 
bitterness of spirit ? — '' Whence should I have flesh to 
give unto all this people ? for they weep rmto me, 
saying, Grive us flesh, that we may eat." Surely it is 
plain from this double complaint, of the people to 
Moses, and of Moses to God, that the supply of cattle, 
capable of being slain for food, was almost wholly 
gone. 

But in truth the very clause, which is said to make it 
certain that they had flocks and herds, not only in the 
second year, but through thirty-eight that followed, 
proves exactly the reverse. The words have no article 
in the Hebrew, and are so rendered in the Greek 
version. '' Shall flock and herd be slain for them to 
suffice them ? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered 
together for them, to suffice them ?" Paraphrased, the 
words mean clearly " From what unknown, incon- 
ceivable source, can flesh be supplied a whole month to 
so vast a multitude ? From flocks and herds, when it 
is plain that none are left, which could meet so great a 
demand ? or from the fishes of the sea, which are 
equally remote, and could not be gathered in sufficient 
number, and conveyed to their tents ?" And thus the 
solitary proof alleged, that they had, " according to the 
story," immense flocks and herds throughout the whole 
time of their journeys, is really a convincing evidence 
that their stock of sheep and cattle was exhausted early 



104 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

in the second year, almost as soon as tlieir real jour- 
neying in the wilderness began. 

The second proof alleged is still more futile and 
ridiculous. For the description of the children of 
lleuben and of Gad, Num, xxxii. 1, is not only after 
the spoil of 675,000 sheep and 72,000 beeves has been 
taken from the Midianites, but also after the double 
conquest of Gilead and Bashan ; when we have the 
statement twice repeated by Moses in express terms 
" Only the cattle we took for a prey to ourselves." 
" But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took 
for a prey to ourselves." (Deut. ii. 35 ; iii. 7.) The 
spoil of the Midianites was divided, it is true, among 
all the tribes. But evidently there was nothing to 
hinder the E-eubenites and Gadites from purchasing the 
share of the others ; and with their evident preference 
for pastoral occupation, and such good pasture lands 
already conquered, this is exactly what they were 
likely to do. 

61. But it may be urged that at least they kept the 
Passover in the second year, and " therefore, we may 
presume, had 200,000 male lambs of the first year at 
their command, and two millions of sheep and oxen 
close at hand." The reply is evident. First of all, the 
number of paschal lambs required for 1,800,000 souls 
under such altered circumstances, could not be more, 
and might be less, than 90,000 ; since the law expressly 
provided that two households or even more, might 
join together, and even at Jerusalem, in times of plenty 
and peace, twenty was no unusual size of a paschal com- 
pany. Next, the size of the flock, to provide this 
number of male yearling lambs, or 180,000 lambs of 
both kinds, need not be more than 120,000 ewes, and 
one tenth of rams, or 130,000 altogether, instead of two 
millions. And lastly, there is no proof at all that this 



THE FLOCKS OF ISRAEL IN THE DESERT. 105 

limited number, or one for every five numbered males 
of tbe people, might not be sustained throughout their 
journey. When the people complain, Num. xx. 5, 
That the place was neither one of seed, nor figs, nor 
vines, nor pomegranates, and that there was no water to 
drink, they do not complain that there was no pasture 
at all for the cattle. It is well known that many 
districts of Arabia yield a moderate pasture, where 
there are no fruit-trees, nor any supply of food for men. 
It must also be observed that, when the second Pass- 
over was celebrated, the people expected very soon to 
enter Canaan, so that there would be no motive for 
sparing the rest of the flock, till the supply was nearly 
exhausted : and its celebration was suspended after- 
wards, along with the rite of circumcision, till their 
entrance, thirty-nine years later, on the Land of Pro- 
mise. 

62. The general conclusion, thus arrived at, that the 
number of the sheep and cattle, from the time of the 
second Passover, and even earlier, till the conquest of 
Bashan, was comparatively very small, is confirmed by 
two or three other minute indications. And first, we 
learn from the prophecy of Amos, as a fact notorious 
amoDg the Jews, that sacrifices to God, with rare 
exceptions, were not offered during these many years. 
The question is plainly equivalent to a strong negation. 
*' ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me sacrifices 
and offerings in the wilderness forty years ? Nay, ye 
bore the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your 
images, the star of your god, which ye made for your- 
selves.'' Ezekiel also tells us that, at the same time, 
" They offered their sons and daughters to Moloch." 
Now both prophetic statements, that they offered no 
sheep and bullocks to the Grod of Israel, and that they 
offered their children to Moloch, agree best with the 



106 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

supposition tliat tlieir flocks were nearly exhausted, and 
that this, in their low moral state, became an induce- 
ment to human sacrifice. 

Next, it may be observed that the instructions about 
sacrifice, after the second Passover was over, relate 
expressly to their entrance on the land of Canaan, and 
not to their sojourn in the wilderness. Thus Num. xv. 
begins as follows, " And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto 
them. When ye be come into the land of your habi- 
tations, which I give unto you ;" and these words are 
the preface to a whole chapter_, consisting mainly of laws 
respecting future sacrifices. 

Again, when water was supplied by miracle a 
second time in the desert of Zin or Kadesh, at the 
beginning of the fortieth year, no mention is made 
of flocks and herds, but only of beasts of burden. 
The word in Hebrew is "1''^^?, rendered ktijvtj in the 
Septuagint; and its meaning is clear from the other 
places where it is used, Gen. xlv. 17 : " Lade your 
beasts and go." Exod. xxii. 5 ; Num. xx. 4, 8, 11 ; 
Psa. Ixxviii. 48. " He gave up their cattle also to the 
hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts ;" where horses, 
asses, and camels, oxen and sheep, were all included 
in the judgment. 

It is needless, then, to urge the probability, on which 
some writers have insisted, that the wilderness might 
have been much less sterile in the time of Moses than in 
our own days. There is nothing in Deut. viii. or Jer. ii. 
which precludes this supposition ; since those descrip- 
tions might still apply in all their force to many parts 
of the journey. There seems, from several early notices, 
to be little doubt that the lapse of ages, and the de- 
struction of a vegetation always scanty, has rendered 
the sterihty more extreme, and increased the drought 



THE FLOCKS OF ISRAEL IN THE DESERT. 107 

and desolation. But the remarks already made are 
enongli to prove that the sceptical objection, from the 
immense number of sheep and oxen ascribed to the 
Israelites throughout the forty years, rests entirely on 
the false construction of one single text ; while the 
words of Moses, when their true sense is restored, sup- 
ply strong and decisive evidence for a precisely opposite 
view. They tend to prove that their flocks and herds 
were comparatively few, during the thirty-eight years 
from the second Passover, and even from the giving of 
the Law, till they crossed the border of Arnon, and 
began to take possession of the land. 



108 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL* 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CAMP AND TABERNACLE. 

63. The objections to the trutli of the Bible history 
which come next in order of time, are so frivolous as to 
make the task of replying to them rather irksome. 
They are drawn from the size of the Camp, and the 
great number of the people, contrasted with the few- 
ness of the priests, and the small size of the Tabernacle. 

The first passage assailed is Lev. viii. 14, where 
Moses is told to gather the congregation to the door of 
the tabernacle. The phrase, " the whole assembly," or 
" all the congregation," cannot possibly mean the elders 
only. In Num. xvi. 19, 25, the elders are plainly dis- 
tinguished from the congregation, and in Num. x. 3, 4, 
the princes, and the whole assembly, are contrasted 
with each other. Hence the mass of the 603,550 men, 
by the terms of the command, ought to have presented 
themselves " at the door of the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation." They must have come within the court, 
and this was necessary for the object, which was that 
they might witness the consecration. But this court 
would only hold 5000 men, or one in a hundred of 
their number ; while if they were all to arrange them- 
sleves in front of the door, they would have reached to 
a distance of twenty miles ! It is inconceivable, then, 
that "all the assembly," "the whole congregation," could 



THE CAMP AND TABERNACLE. 109 

have been summoned to attend at tlie door of the 
tabernacle by the express command of Almighty God. 

This objection is a confluence of three distinct errors, 
each of which will require a few words of separate 
explanation. 

64. First, the words " all the assembly " and " the 
whole congregation" do not necessarily mean, in every 
case, " the main body of the adult males." Collective 
terms of this kind plainly admit of two distinct mean- 
ings, either " all without any exception," or else " all, 
without any limitation of class, or formal exclusion." 
To confine them to the former sense alone would make 
strange havoc with modern histories, no less than with 
the words of Moses. Such phrases, as the least common 
sense would shew, must be explained according to their 
own context. Thus when, in Exod. xii. 6, the whole 
assembly of the congregation are charged to kill the pass- 
over in the evening, the sense may be strictly universal. 
But when we read, Exod. xvi. 2, 3, that the whole con- 
gregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, and 
said, " Ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to 
kill this whole assembly with hunger," few will suppose 
the meaning to be that 600,000 men uttered these words 
with one voice. The words were plainly those of a 
partial gathering, or of spokesmen deputed by the rest 
to utter their grievance. Again, when the Apostle tells 
us that Moses " sprinkled with blood the book and all the 
people," who can imagine him to mean that Moses went 
round, with the blood of the sacrifice, to sprinkle 
separately 600,000 men ? In fact, both the phrases 
" all the assembly " and " all the congregation " mean 
naturally, not only all who might, but all who do 
actually, from time to time assemble or congregate 
together. Thus a summons to the whole congregation, 
to witness a public ceremony, invites all who are able 



110 . THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

and willing to come, without formally excluding any ; 
but if the space be limited, many may be self-excluded 
by their own delay 

65. Next, the idea that the Avhole congregation were 
invited to come within the court of the tabernacle is 
quite groundless, and even absurd. The part of the 
court available for the purpose, or before the altar, was 
about fifty cubits square, and allowing a square yard 
each, would hold, not 5000, but 600 or 700 persons 
only. Within this space were Moses, Aaron, the four 
sons of Aaron, and" the Levites who took part in the 
sacrifice ; while three animals on the first day, and 
seven on the eighth day, had to be slain successively 
before the altar. We are told also, shortly before, that 
" Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the 
congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the 
glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Any crowding 
of the people around the altar, under such circum- 
stances, would be as unnatural, and almost as profane, as 
directly opposed to the moral purpose of the whole 
service, as an attempt to break through and to gaze, at 
Mount Sinai, for which the sentence was immediate 
death. One of two things must evidently have been 
the meaning of the command ; that representatives from 
all the tribes should be associated with the elders and 
Levites within the court, and immediately in front of 
it ; or else, that the people in general should witness the 
ceremony at a greater distance, on the eastern side of 
the tabernacle. 

66. Let us now see what would be the amount of 
real difficulty, if '' the whole congregation " be taken in 
its widest sense, so as to include all the numbered males. 
Dismissing the double absurdity, as a gratuitous insult 
to the majesty of the word of God, that 600,000 men 
were bidden to crowd themselves into a thousand 



THE CAMP AND TABERNACLE. Ill 

square yards under the skirts of the cloud of glory, or 
to form a line eastward twenty miles in length, we may 
assume the purpose of the message to have been that as 
many as possible might witness, with reverence, the 
main features of Aaron's priestly consecration. The 
tabernacle, then, would doubtless be pitched on some 
spot favourable for this purpose, or in front of a gentle 
acclivity. The hangings in the front of the court, and 
part of those on each side, would be withdrawn, and 
folded round the pillars, so that the altar of burnt 
offering would be full in view. If the people, then, 
were disposed in a circular sector, one-third of a com- 
plete circle, or as far as 60° on each side of the front 
line, and densely packed, with four square feet to each 
person, we shall have |-7r^ = 2,400,000, and r = 1514, or 
the furthest would be 505 yards from the altar, a dis- 
tance of little more than a quarter of a mile. Even 
allowing four times the space, the furthest would be 
only a thousand yards distant, and from higher ground 
might easily follow the outline of the ceremonial. It 
follows that, when the direction has been freed from 
misconstructions wholly unreasonable and absurd, the 
narrative is quite natural and consistent, and the con- 
gregation, either by representatives, by a varying at- 
tendance of large numbers, or even all at once, might 
have easily witnessed the whole course of the service of 
consecration. 

67. A similar objection is grounded on the later pas- 
sages, Deut. i. 1, V. 1, Josh. viii. 34, 35, where Moses 
and Joshua are said to have spoken the law publicly to 
all Israel. The words in the last passage are emphatic 
and strong : " There was not a word of all that Moses 
commanded, which Joshua read not before all the con- 
gregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, 
and the strangers that were conversant among them." 



112 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

A little tliouglit will supply an easy explanation of 
both statements. The people were divided into twelve 
tribes, and subdivided into seventy families. Captains 
of hundreds and of fifties had also been appointed 
throughout the host for many years. Nothing is easier 
than to conceive a hundred representatives from each 
family, either the captains of its hundreds, or substi- 
tutes, forming a company of six or seven thousand, 
who would represent the whole body of the people, 
and whom Moses would address without difficulty, 
since his "eye was not dim, nor his natural force 
abated." 

In the public reading of the law by Joshua, the main 
body of the people, we infer from the whole descrip- 
tion, were actually present, and a certain proportion of 
the women and children. The latter, however, would 
probably not replace the large number of the two and a 
half tribes, who were absent beyond Jordan, since only 
40,000, out of 110,000, are said to have crossed over. 
We may thus assume that those who were present were 
from 500,000 to 600,000. These were disposed, we 
are taught, in two equal companies, on two opposite 
slopes or fronts of Ebal and Gerizim. They would 
thus form, without inconvenient crowding, two squares 
of 520 to 550 yards on each side, or rather more than a 
quarter of a mile. 

Is it possible, or not, that the reading of the law 
should be made audible to this numerous assembly ? 
The law itself, in another place, supplies us with a clear 
and simple explanation. In Deut. xxvii. 11-14, after 
the direction has been given that six tribes should take 
their station on each of these two mountain sides, it is 
added, ''And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the 
men of Israel with a loud voice," etc. Now we learn from 
the later passage, Joshua viii. 33, that Joshua, the ark, 



THE CAMP AND TABERNACLE. 113 

and the Levites, were in the centre, and the six tribes 
arranged in two great companies, on opposite sides of 
them, and on the sloping front of the two mountains. 
Thus it is plain^ from the law itself, that the hearing of 
the law was not to depend on the strength of Joshua's 
voice. There were some thousands of Levites, already 
set apart for the work of the sanctuary, with the keep- 
ing of the law and its publication for their especial 
trust. The words, first spoken by Joshua himself, were 
doubtless repeated loudly, by large companies of the 
Levites, in the hearing of all the people. The sugges- 
tion that the crying of the little ones, who are said to 
have been present, would render distinct hearing im- 
possible, is a strange vagary of sceptical folly. Com- 
paring Lev. xxvii. 5, there is no reason to think that 
mere infants, under five years would be present ; and 
the Israelite children of that generation, from ^\e years 
and upward, had probably far more reverence for the 
words of the living Grod, the Grod of Israel, than is 
displayed, unhappily, by some Christian scholars and 
divines in these last days. 

One further objection remains. " The day would not 
have sufficed for reading (to many separate parties) the 
blessings and cursings, much less all the words of the 
law, many times over ; especially after he had been 
already engaged, as the story implies, on the very same 
day, in writing a copy of the law on the stones set up 
in Mount Ebal." But the answer is very plain. The 
text itself says nothing about the words being repeated 
many times to different parties. Such a plan would be 
superfluous, and even mischievous, when provision had 
been made, by means of the Levites, for all the assembly 
hearing together. It contains, also, no hint whatever 
that the whole series of events was in one single day. 

I 



114 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

They might have been spread over a week, a fortnight, 
or a month. The story in the hook of Genesis, we 
might affirm with the same degree of truth, teaches 
that Noah began to be a husbandman, planted a vine- 
yard, drank of its wine, and became intoxicated, all in 
the course of one single day. 

68. The objection drawn from the duties of the 
priest, and the supposed necessity that he should carry 
on his back the bullock of the sin offering as far as 
from St. Paul's to the skirts of the metropolis, is so 
plainly frivolous and absurd, that it would be a waste 
of time to enter seriously and at length on its refuta- 
tion. We might infer, with equal wisdom, from 
Gren. xL 14, that Joseph asked the chief butler to 
carry him on his back out of the prison ; or from Exod. 
xvi. 3, that the whole congregation murmured against 
Moses and Aaron, because they had carried all the 
people on their own back out of the land of Egypt ; or 
from 2 Sam. xii. 31, that David performed the same 
exploit with all the cities of the Ammonites. With 
regard to the size of the camp, again, it seems to be 
wholly forgotten that every tribe had a distinct camp 
of its own, with a considerable space between them, 
and that the camp of the Levites, in the midst of which 
the tabernacle was placed, was distinct from all the 
rest. Forty-six thousand of both sexes and of all ages 
would easily encamp in a square of half a mile or less 
on each side ; and since the tabernacle seems to have 
been near the western limit, the distance for the ashes 
to be carried might probably be not more than a single 
furlong. The ordinance, so ridiculously travestied, is en- 
shrined also by the Spirit of God amidst the most sacred 
truths of the gospel, and the most solemn lessons of 
Christian duty. Heb. xiii. 11-14 : *' For the bodies of 



THE CAMP AND TABERNACLE. 115 

those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary 
by the high-priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people 
with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us 
go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing 
his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but 
we seek one to come." An objection, which imputes 
ridiculous folly and open forgery to such a command, is 
not only critically contemptible, but a double offence 
against all the majesty of Grod's law, and all the grace 
and tenderness of the gospel of Christ. 



I 2 



116 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE FIRST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE. 

69. The difficulties in the account of the First Census 
are of more seeming weight than those last examined, 
and deserve a careful inquiry. There is here a partial 
obscurity in the sacred text, which may be a stumbling- 
block to sceptical minds, and while it could never jus- 
tify any doubt of its historical reality_, may throw sus- 
picion on its perfect accuracy and truth. No full and 
clear solution, so far as I am aware, has been offered of 
those features which occasion the perplexity. It is 
precisely in such cases that patient inquiry, in the spirit 
of reverence and humility, is commonly rewarded with 
some increase of light, and reveals new evidence of tlie 
secret harmonies of the word of God. 

The objections are briefly these. In Exod. xxx. 11- 
16, we have a command given to Moses on the mount, 
that whenever the people were numbered, every one 
should give a half shekel of silver, after the shekel of 
the sanctuary, as a ransom for their souls. In Exod. 
xxxviii. 25-28, we have a record of the fulfilment of 
this command. We are told, further, that the silver thus 
collected, from 603,550 who were numbered, amounted 
to 100 talents, of which a hundred sockets for the 
sanctuary were made, and 1775 shekels in excess, which 
were used for the hooks and fillets of silver. The 
tabernacle, with all its pillars and sockets complete, was 



THE FIRST NUMBEEING OF THE PEOPLE. 117 

set up on the first day of the second year. The Book 
of Leviticus follows, with all its multiplied laws, after 
the sanctuary was complete. Then, in Num. i. 1-46, 
we read that " on the first day of the second month " 
Moses received a command to take the number of the 
people, along with a prince appointed for every 
tribe. The number of each is recorded separately, and 
consists of complete hundreds, except the tribe of Gad 
only, where there is an odd fifty ; and the total is 
603,550, exactly the same as implied by the silver 
atonement money, already used in the construction of 
the sanctuary. Hence it is reckoned strange, first of 
all, that a shekel of the sanctuary should be named 
before the sanctuary was even built, when such a term 
hnplies that it has been a considerable time in exist- 
ence ; that no numbering should be mentioned, when 
the atonement money was paid, and no atonement 
money at the actual numbering ; that the total number, 
at two seasons six or seven months apart, should be 
precisely the same ; and that all the tribes but one 
should be in round hundreds, and the Levites in com- 
plete thousands ; while the tribe of Gad in the first num-* 
bering is a complete fifty only, and that of Reuben alone, 
a,t the last numbering, has an odd thirty, and the first- 
born have the number 22,273. If the two numberings 
were distinct, how could the totals be punctually the 
same, and in round numbers ? If the same, how could 
the atonement money be paid in and used, some months 
earlier than any steps were taken for the actual 
enumeration ? 

70. The first difficulty, from the " shekel of the sanc- 
tuary " being named in the law, admits of a very easy 
solution. The laws of God, revealed by Moses, were 
expressly designed for the use of all later generations. 
In the song of Moses, after the final deliverance at the 



118 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

Bed Sea, we find this distinct prophecy : " Thou shalt 
bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine 
inheritance, in the place, Lord, which thou hast made 
for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, Lord, which thy 
hands have established." A mention, then, of the 
shekel of the sanctuary, in connection with every future 
numbering of the people, even before the sanctuary 
itself was actually built, is language worthy of the 
Divine Lawgiver, to whom all His works are known 
from the beginning; and served to unite the life of 
every individual Israelite with an act of national 
worship to the Grod of Israel. 

71. The first step towards removing the main diffi- 
culty is to answer the question — Were there two dis- 
tinct and separate numberings in the first and second 
years of the Exodus, or do all the three passages refer 
to various particulars of one and the same numbering ? 
And here the answer seems very plain. The number- 
ings were one and the same ; first, because they have 
exactly the same total number ; secondly, because only 
one offering of atonement money, and one amount for 
each tribe, is recorded ; thirdly, because two indepen- 
dent numberings, barely six months apart, would be 
superfluous and unnatural ; fourthly, because only two 
numberings are placed in contrast at the close of the 
forty years. Num. xxvi. 64, 65 ; and lastly, because it is" 
plain that in Exodus there was no atonement money 
taken from the Levites, and the whole narrative, both 
in Exodus and Numbers, is linked with one and the 
same event, the building and dedication of the sanc- 
tuary. 

A further proof may be drawn from the dates in the 
Book of Numbers. The census in the time of David 
occupied nine months and twenty days. Now, although 
the labour would be much less in the wilderness, where 



THE FIRST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE. 119 

all were in one encampment, yet a full numbering, by 
houses and families, with reference to an exact limit of 
age, must naturally have occupied a considerable time. 
Yet we find that the numbering of all the separate 
tribes, the arrangements of their standards and order of 
march, the numbering of the adult Levites, from each 
family, of all the Levites from a month upward, and of all 
the firstborn, with all the offerings of the princes for 
the dedication of the altar, on twelve successive days, 
and the separation of the Levites by a solemn service, 
were complete between the first and the twentieth 
of the second month. It is a reasonable, and almost 
inevitable conclusion, that all the details of the census had 
been previously procured ; and that what is recorded 
in the opening of the Book of Numbers is simply the 
application of these materials, to fix publicly the number 
of every tribe, and to introduce the various details of 
their order of march in their journeys. 

On this view it is plain that the greater part of the 
difficulty disappears at once. The total is the same in 
both cases, because the numbering is one and the same. 
And the possibility of this number being already fixed, 
before the tabernacle was reared, or one or two months 
before the public transaction in the Book of Numbers, 
and also the round hundreds or fifties in all the 
tribes, resolve themselves plainly into one and the 
same question — by what principle, and in what way, 
this numbering was really carried on. 

72. A census of the males from twenty years old and 
upward may plainly be taken in several different ways. 
It may be either simultaneous, or gradual and succes- 
sive through several months. It may be confined to 
those who have completed twenty years from their exact 
birthday, or include those who were in their twentieth 
year, or those only who have lived twenty complete 



120 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

Jewish years, or all who have lived nineteen complete 
Jewish years, so as to be now in their twenty-first 
year, including the Jewish year in which they were born. 
A simultaneous census, also, might be either on a new 
year's day, or on some chance day of the year, selected 
for convenience. In our own census, the object is to 
have it simultaneous, and the ages, as far as possible, 
are reckoned in each case from the actual day of birth. 
Supposing the success complete, the numbers will be 
exact for that day, but those on the new year's day, 
before or after, can only be inferred by approximate 
calculation. But whenever a census is not simulta- 
neous, the appearance of accuracy in the units will 
plainly be illusive, and the totals will not strictly 
represent the numbers at any one point of time. A 
strictly simultaneous numbering, on the other hand, 
when the birthdays have also to be followed in each 
case, implies great labour and complex arrangements ; 
and there can be no doubt, in our own census, that the 
returns of age include a large number which are imper- 
fect and erroneous. 

A Sacred Census of the Israelites, we might assume 
beforehand, would be likely to refer to some cardinal 
date in the sacred year, rather than to any other day on 
which the numbering might be made. In this case 
the two reckonings, by the Jewish year and the par- 
ticular birthday, would coincide together. Since the 
Egyptian year was solar, and the Jewish lunar, an 
estimate by the month and day of birth, in each case, 
would be peculiarly liable to cause perplexity and con- 
fusion. And hence it seems probable that the num- 
bering would refer to a new year's day, or some cardinal 
epoch of that kind, and twenty years of age at that 
epoch be the limit. In this case, if the actual num- 
bering were either successive, or simultaneous, but not 



THE FIEST NUMBEKING OF THE PEOPLE. 121 

on the new year's day, the reckoning could not be 
exact in the units, because of removals by death 
during the short interval. 

When we turn to the account in Exodus, everything 
points to the conclusion that this mode of numbering 
was actually followed. The great national date was 
the Exodus, in the first month of the first year ; and the 
year itself received a new commencement, to mark this 
great birthday of the people. The earlier journeys to 
Sinai, the giving of the Law, and the construction of 
the Tabernacle, occupied the first year, and on the 
first day of the second year the tabernacle was set 
up complete. The offerings, also, of those who 
were numbered, were actually incorporated in the 
building, so as to connect the census, in the most 
emphatic way, with this completion of the sanctuary. 
It seems to follow at once that we are to understand, 
by the limit of twenty years old and upward, all those 
who had completed nineteen Jewish years at the 
Exodus, or twenty Jewish years at the rearing 
of the tabernacle ; in other words, all those whose 
twentieth birthdays fell successively during the first 
year of the Exodus. In this case, since the atonement 
money was to be used in the building, the actual num- 
bering must have closed some little time before the end 
of the year. There would be some whose claim to pass 
would be ambiguous, since their birthdays fell within this 
interval ; and if they were allowed to pass, as being 
above twenty when the new year's day arrived, still 
some deduction would have to be made for the 
deaths which might previously occur. And since the 
numbering had a military aspect, with reference to 
their ability to go forth to war, on that account it 
would be natural to enrol them by companies, a hun- 
dred or fifty at one time ; which would also simplify the 



122 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

tedious process, in the registration of tlie names, and 
collection of the atonement money. 

73. The law in Exod. xxx. 11-16 prescribed that a be- 
kah or half shekel of silver was to be paid by '' every one 
who went to be numbered," for the service of the sanc- 
tuary. From Exod. xxxviii. 25-31, it is plain that this 
atonement money had been received, and the sockets 
and fillets made out of it, before the first day of the 
second year, when the tabernacle was complete. Hence 
it seems highly probable that the people went, by com- 
panies of a hundred or fifty, from the different tribes, 
to pay their ransom, and give in their names and 
families to the Levites or scribes, beginning probably 
with the oldest, and passing on to the youngest. 
Allowing three minutes for a company of fifty, ten 
thousand would thus pass in one day, and the whole 
process occupy about two months ; or if by companies 
of a hundred at the same rate, a single month. The 
register may have closed a month before the final 
erection of the tabernacle. The ambiguity, in this 
case, would extend to those only whose birthday was 
in the last month of the year. These might either be 
excluded or included, but in the latter case allowance 
would be required for probable deaths during the 
month. Since the average number of one tribe was 
fifty thousand, the average deaths, at the subsequent 
rate of mortality, would be 1250 in the year, or 
104 per month. Thus the same limit of accuracy, 
which is suggested by the military character of the 
census, is equally suggested by the uncertainty, arising 
from the month's interval between the actual close of 
the registration at the sanctuary, and the appointed 
hour for the tabernacle to be complete. Just as a skilful 
computer always dismisses the decimals which he knows 
to be unreliable from the limited accuracy of the data, 



THE FIEST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE. 123 

and takes the nearest figure above or below in the 
place retained, it would be a natural course to complete 
the last hundred or fifty out of the ambiguous cases 
whose birthdays were in that last month, and to leave 
the rest as a compensation for the answering deaths. 
While this was the rule, particular circumstances might 
easily occasion one solitary deviation, when a single 
fifty and thirty were taken at last into the reckoning. 

Such a registration at the sanctuary, if carried on by 
companies of a hundred or fifty presenting themselves in 
succession at one appointed place, and the captain or 
leader of each company presenting the offering from 
the whole band, and receiving some record of their 
having passed, would furnish the materials for a distinct 
enumeration of the separate tribes and families, but 
would not of itself supply it. Accordingly the direc- 
tion in Numbers seems to presuppose this previous 
registration^ and the possession of due certificates 
throughout the whole congregation, since the command 
was given and executed on one and the same day. 
Now this would be easy, if the prince of each tribe 
(Num. i. 5-17), with assistant scribes, had simply to 
receive and certify papers of registration, already given 
to each hundred or fifty, when the bekah or half shekel 
of atonement money had been paid. The largest num- 
ber of centuries would be 746 in the tribe of Judah, 
and the returns, from each captain of a hundred, would 
at once give the sum for every tribe. The whole trans- 
action is thus consistent and clearly intelligible. Any 
excess or defect of twentieth birthdays above or below 
the deaths, in the first month of the second year, would 
of course be neglected, since the proper date of the 
census was the day the tabernacle was reared. And 
indeed, sinco the total varied only by 1820 in 38 
years, the change in a single month, at the same rate, 



124 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

would be four only. Even if its actual amount were 
twenty times greater, its introduction would only mar the 
simplicity, and obscure tlie moral lesson, of tlie whole 
appointment. For its main feature is the incorporation 
of all the numbered Israelites, by their atonement 
money, into the very structure of the typical dwelling- 
place of the Grod of Israel (Exod. xxix. 45, 46). 

74. This view, that the proper date to which the 
census refers is the day on which the tabernacle was 
set up, the close of the first, and beginniug of the 
second year of the Exodus, receives a latent, but strong 
confirmation in the chapters that follow. Both the 
Levites, and the firstborn male children, were still to 
be numbered, that the former might be substituted for 
the latter. The limit appointed, on each case, was 
" from a month old and upward." This is plainly 
a direction to number all who were already born 
at the same date of the erection of the tabernacle. 
Thus the census would include three classes ; the 
adult males of the twelve tribes, who were twenty 
years complete at the time of that erection ; and all the 
Levites, and firstborn male children, down to the 
same date. 

75. Two further difficulties, however, remain, in con- 
nection with these later numberings, though one of them 
has not been alluded to in the recent objections against 
the Mosaic narrative. The three families of the 
Levites are numbered separately, and all are in round 
hundreds, the Gershonites 7500, the Kohathites 8600, 
the Merarites 6200. These totals, collected, amount to 
22,300 ; and yet the actual total is reckoned at 22,000 
only. And this is not merely a round number of 
thousands, but is the basis of the substitution for 
the firstborn. When these are found to be 22,273, 
redemption money is paid for each of the 273 who aie 



THE FIRST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE. 125 

in excess of 22,000. This seems to ^x the latter to be 
an exact sum, in contrast to a round number. Again, 
at the later census, where the families of the Levites 
are not numbered separately, their total is given as 
23,000, an exact number of thousands once more. 
How are we to explain the difference between the 
separate amounts of the three families, and their sum ? 
and how must we explain, further, the two complete 
numbers of 22,000 and 23,000 ? Either view of them, 
as the results of a special Providence, or as dependent 
on the mode of numbering, has its o^ii difficulty. It 
seems unnatural to adopt a different solution of the 
round numbers in the case of the Levites and of 
the other tribes ; while yet it is not easy to under- 
stand how a numher, rounded for symmetry or con- 
venience, can be made the ground for a commutation 
being paid by the odd number of 273 out of 22,273 
firstborn. 

Here, first of all, the difference between the three 
numbers of the three Levitical families, and the total 
for the tribe, seems to be explained by the fact, that 
some in each family must evidently themselves have 
been firstborn. Now these, having been already sancti- 
fied to God by the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, 
could not properly be made substitutes for other first- 
born. Deducting 100 from the number of each family, 
we shall have 7400 + 8500 + 6100 = 22,000 Levites, 
not firstborn, who would be real substitutes for the 
firstborn males of the other tribes. 

But while one difficulty is thus removed, the other 
appears to be doubled. We have now the alter- 
native of supposing seven lists to be in round hundreds 
or thousands by a special arrangement of Providence, 
to which there is no direct allusion, that is, the first- 
born Levites, and the Levites not firstborn of three 



126 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

families, and tlie total at the later census ; or else that 
the commutation for the surplus names of the firstborn 
was based on an inaccurate and incomplete enumeration 
of the Levites with whom they are compared. 

Now here it must be remembered that an exact enu- 
meration, extending to each individual, or to a broken 
number, loses all significance^ unless the exact date for 
the numbering be assigned also. But this is not 
mentioned in the case of the Levites. The words are 
simply these : " And the Lord spake unto Moses in the 
wilderness of Sinai, saying. Number the children of Levi 
after the house of their fathers by their families ; every 
male from a month old and upward shalt thou number 
them." It seems probable that the charge was given soon 
after the previously mentioned numbering of the tribes, 
or early in the second month, but the date is no- 
where expressly given. The probable rate of births in 
the tribe, from the earlier and later census, would be 
about 24,000 in 40 years, or 600 a year, and 50 a 
month ; that is, 50 in three months for each of the three 
families. Supposing, then, as is probable from what 
has gone before, that the general registration began 
three months before the tabernacle was complete, and 
was arrested for the tribes at the last complete hundred, 
within a month from the exact day, the same course 
may have been followed with the three Levitical 
families. The names being entered by the scribes, 
beginning with the oldest, the account may be purposely 
stayed for each family, when a complete hundred is 
reached, which would be probably within two months 
before or after the opening of the second year. Thus 
the mode of numeration, in the case of the Levites, will 
resemble that of the other tribes ; and the principle that 
the numbering was of definite individuals will be recon- 
ciled with the avoidance of doubtful and unrevealed 



THE FIRST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE. 127 

miracles ; siicli as are implied necessarily in the concur- 
rence, at one moment, of a series of round numbers, 
against which the chances, apart from some special 
design of Providence, would be ten thousand billions 
of billions to one. All that is needed for this end is 
simply a latitude of two or three months in the exact 
time when the registration from each family should 
close, so as to be in complete hundreds. A special 
arrangement of Providence, to this extent, involves 
no multiplication of miracles without an adequate cause. 

76. The objection may still be urged, that the excess 
of the firstborn over the Levites, which is not a round 
number of any kind, would be thus rendered inexact 
and unnatural, since the reckoning of the three fami- 
lies would probably not close at the same moment. 
But a little thought will remove this objection. 
The substitution was to be made once for all, but the 
redemption of every fresh firstborn male was to be a 
standing and perpetual ordinance. Hence there could 
be no purpose answered by arresting the numeration 
at a complete hundred, because not only the sur- 
plus in the fundamental numbering, but every other 
firstborn, from that time forward, would equally 
require to be redeemed. The price appointed (Num. 
iii. 46-51, Levit. xxvii. 6) shews that the surplus was 
of the latest born, between one month and five years of 
age ; and many more would plainly have to be re- 
deemed at the same rate, before the second year was 
complete. Hence the most natural way would be to 
carry on the full tale of the firstborn, till the moment 
when the transfer of their office to the Levites was 
finished, and not to arrest it at the point of time 
when a round hundred was last completed. 

77. One further doubt remains to be satisfied, before 
the explanation can be viewed as complete. It has 



128 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

thus been assumed that the u umber of firstborn Levites 
in each family was one entire hundred. A slight excess 
might here be plainly neglected, since it could not affect 
the amount of redemption money to be paid. Is it 
consistent, then, with probability, on the principles 
already established, that there should be a hundred 
firstborn, or a slightly larger number only, in each of 
the three Levitical families ? 

"Now the total number of the tribe was 22,300, and 
the numbers between 30 and 50 were 8580. The 
numbers between 20 and 30 and above 50 will nearly 
equal, as a general rule, those between 30 and 50, and 
may be so taken in this case, though the ratio might 
deviate considerably either way, and seems to have 
done so in the separate families. This would leave 
5140 for the number under 20 years of age, the limit of 
the general census, and make the proportion of the 
firstborn to be one in 17. This ratio is reduced one 
half because of the alternation of male and female births, 
and to two-thirds again, because of deaths among the 
firstborn, which cannot be replaced by other births. 
There results 5f for the average of sons in the 
youngest generation of the tribe of Levi, while the 
general average, from the comparison of the total num- 
ber of the firstborn with the total of the tribes, is 4f . 

This agreement is already very near. And it must 
be observed, further, that the previous increase of the 
tribe of Levi had been slower than that of all the 
others, since its numbers, above a month old, are less 
than one half the average of theirs above twenty years, 
a disproportion of nearly four to one. On the other 
hand, while their total number diminished slightly in the 
wilderness, the Levites increased ^ve per cent. In 
other words, their rate was now above the average, 
after having been much below it. Also the genealogies 



THE FIRST NUMBEKING OF THE PEOPLE. 129 

lead to the inference that the average length of the 
descent was greater in this tribe than in the others, 
which implies a smaller number of early marriages. 
But as this implies a slower rate of increase with mar- 
riages of equal fertility — the character of the tribe 
during the Sojourn — it would equally i*mply a greater 
average fertility of the same marriages, to secure an 
equal or higher rate of increase ; which seems to have 
been the character of this same tribe during the forty 
years. The natural result of such a difference would 
plainly be a smaller ratio of the surviving firstborn 
to the other children. 

78. The analysis of the first census, and inquiry 
into the difficulties it undoubtedly does present on a su- 
perficial view, is now complete. And I think it will be 
the conclusion of every candid inquirer, able to estimate 
the force of moral evidence, that the seeming perplex- 
ities turn, on closer search, into powerful confirmations 
of the historical truth and fidelity of this portion of 
the Bible history. It is wholly incredible that any 
forgery of later times should furnish such abundant 
details, lay itself open to so many secret tests, expose 
itself, without cautionary remark or explication, to 
objections so formidable in their first appearance, and 
emerge from the scrutiny, with its consistency con- 
firmed, and its historical truthfulness ratified, by the 
closest examination. To this holy word, which our 
Lord himself received with deepest practical reverence, 
the law written in his heart — the prophetic promise ap- 
plies in all its force, — '' No weapon that is formed against 
thee shall prosper ; and every tongue that shall rise 
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." 



130 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 

79. The increase in Egypt Las been examined, and 
shewn to agree with the data of the Pentateuch, even 
if all the 600,000 at the Exodus were lineal male 
descendants from the twelve patriarchs alone. But 
before entering on the objections drawn from the 
Levitical families, an important inquiry has to be made. 
What was the number of Jacob's household at the 
Descent, and what became of it during the Sojourn in 
Egypt? 

Professor Rawlinson has remarked, in " Aids to 
Faith," p. 280 : " We have no need to suppose the 
600,000 who quitted Egypt, though they are all called 
Israelites, to have been all descendants of Jacob. The 
members of the patriarch's family came down into 
Egypt with their households. What the size of patri- 
archal households was, we may gather from that of 
Abraham, whose trained servants, born in his house, 
amounted to 318. Nor was this an exceptional case. 
Esau met Jacob, on his return from Padan-Aram, with 
400 men, who were probably his servants ; and Jacob, 
at the same meeting, had such a number, that he could 
divide them into two bands or armies. It is not un- 
likely that the whole company, who entered Egypt 
with Jacob, amounted to above a thousand souls. As 
all were circumcised, all would doubtless be considered 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 131 

Israelites, and their descendants reckoned to the tribe 
of their masters." 

This view, that Jacob's household at the Descent 
amounted to nearly a thousand, if not more, though 
rejected in "The Pentateuch Examined," seems to result 
naturally from a careful review of the whole history. 
It is no escape from a difficulty, for the increase in 
Egypt may be otherwise fully explained. But if it 
forms one main feature of the inspired narrative, it 
cannot be overlooked when we enter upon the details 
of the Israelite families, without some risk of perplexity 
and confusion. Facts are always consistent with them- 
selves ; but misconceptions, no less than mere inventions, 
involve partial contradiction, whenever they are mistaken 
for the truth of history. Let us then review the state- 
ments of the Bible on the households of the patriarchs. 

80. First, the migration of Abraham was that of a 
little company, and not of one childless person and his 
wife alone. '' And Abram took Sarai his wife, and 
Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they 
had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran ; 
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan ; 
and into the land of Canaan they came." Again, on 
his descent to Egypt, he received " sheep, and oxen, 
and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she 
asses, and camels." After his return, we are told of 
Lot and Abram : '^ The land was not able to bear 
them, that they might dwell together ; for their sub- 
stance was great, so that they could not dwell to- 
gether." The separation of Lot, and his stay in Sodom, 
were caused by the size of their households and the 
number of their cattle. 

This fact comes to light still more plainly in the 
next chapter. When Lot was carried away captive 
from Sodom, Abram " armed his trained servants, born 

K 2 



132 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

in his own house, 318 in number, and pursued them unto 
Dan." He gained a signal victory over the four con- 
federate kings, and recovered all the captives. This 
triumph seems to be referred to, long after, as a landmark 
in the sacred history, and as an event which made the 
deepest impression on all the surrounding heathen, 
Isa. xli. 1-8. Abraham was still childless, and yet was 
the head of a little tribe, which had its three hundred 
trained warriors, its allies, and its victories. 

When the covenant of circumcision was given, before 
the birth of Isaac, alf the servants were expressly in- 
cluded by the Divine command, and incorporated into 
the sacred family. ^' All the men of his house, born in 
the house, or bought with money of the stranger, were 
circumcised with him." And the next chapter links 
them afresh with the fortunes of Abraham and his 
sons. ^'I know him, that he will command his chil- 
dren and Ms household after him, and they shall keep 
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment ; that 
the Lord may briug upon Abraham that which he hath 
spoken." Soon after, Abimelech " took sheep, and 
oxen, and menservants, and maidservants, and gave 
them to Abraham." The result, in the next chapter, is 
a public league and covenant, prompted by Abimelech' s 
consciousness of Abraham's power and influence. The 
children of Heth, at the time of Sarah's burial, make 
the emphatic statement, " Hear us, my lord, thou art 
a mighty prince among us ; in the choice of our 
sepulchres bury thy dead." And the language of the 
servant to Laban strictly corresponds : '' The Lord 
hath blessed my master greatly, .and he is become 
great ; and he hath given him flocks and herds, and 
silver and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and 
camels and asses." 

All this household became Isaac's after his father's 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 133 

death, while the other and younger sons were sent 
away with presents into the east country. And the 
next allusion to it implies a further increase. " And 
the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until 
he became very great : for he had possession of flocks, 
and possession of herds, and great store of servants : and 
the Phihstines envied him. And Abimelech said unto 
Isaac, Gro from us ; for thou art much mightier than we." 
xxvi. 13-16. Such language, followed by a public treaty 
of peace, implies that the household was like a little tribe, 
and had become an object of jealousy, from its size and 
riches, to the Philistines and other settlers in the land. 

81. We come now to the time of Jacob. He went 
forth to Padan-Aram a simple exile, unattended and 
alone. But after his stay of twenty years, ''the man 
increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, a7id maid- 
servants and menservants, and camels, and asses." The 
envy of the sons of Laban hastens his return. By this 
time the separate followers of Esau amounted to at least 
four hundred armed men. Those of Jacob were fewer, 
as well as less warlike, and unequal to a conflict ; but still 
they were so numerous that he could put them into two 
"bands," or encampments. And since the flocks and 
herds, from the size of his present, must have comprised 
eight or ten thousand head of cattle, the menservants 
would probably be not less than one or two hundred. 

The destruction of the Shechemites plainly implies 
that Simeon and Levi headed a number of trained ser- 
vants ; since " they took their sheep, and their oxen, and 
their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which 
was in the field, and all their wealth, and all their little 
ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even 
all that was in the house." This evidently could not be 
the work of Simeon and Levi alone. And the complaint 
of Jacob shews the strength of his household, since it was 



134 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

only from a league of cities that lie feared its destruction. 
" Ye have troubled me to make me stink before the in- 
habitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the 
Perizzites, and I being few in number, they will gather 
themselves together against me, and slay me ; and I sliall 
be destroyed, I and my house." A household, few in 
number compared with a league of hostile cities, must 
still amount to hundreds, if such a league is felt to be 
necessary for its overthrow. The message in the next 
chapter agrees with this view. " And Jacob said unto 
his household, and to all that ivere loith liim^ Put away 
the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and 
change your garments : and let us arise and go up to 
Bethel. . . . And they journeyed, and the terror of Grod 
was upon the cities round about them, and they did not 
pursue after the sons of Jacob." 

At length, after long absence, Jacob arrives at 
Hebron, the home of Isaac his father. Eighty years 
before, the size of his father's household had made 
him an object of envy to the PhiHstines, and their fears 
prompted a formal and solemn league. We have no 
reason to suppose that, during the interval, there had 
been any serious diminution. Upon the death of Isaac 
it would probably be shared between Jacob and Esau. 
The claim to a double portion, from the birthright, 
might be waived ; but the greater part would be likely 
to remain at Hebron, and not to remove to Seir. Thus 
the household of Jacob would include at least one-half 
of Isaac's, and all who came with him from Padan- 
Aram and Shechem. The wealth of the two brothers 
at the time is described in these emphatic words : 
" And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his 
daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle 
and all his beasts, and all his substance which he had 
got in the land of Canaan ; and went into the 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 135 

country from the face of his brother Jacob. For their 
riches were more than that they might dwell together ; 
and the land wherein they were strangers conld not 
bear them, because of their cattle. Thus dwelt Esau in 
Mount Seir." The case resembled closely the separa- 
tion of Lot and Abraham, but from a more urgent 
necessity. And the natural inference from the whole 
series of the narrative must be, that Jacob's household 
was still larger than Abraham's had been two centuries 
before. In the interval there are five or six cases of 
recorded increase, and one only of decrease, in the 
division between the two brothers. 

82. The history of Joseph seems to form an excep- 
tion to this series of testimonies, since the servants are 
not once named during its course. This may be ex- 
plained, probably, by its dramatic unity, which excludes 
every superfluous detail. A false impression is thus left 
on superficial readers ; as if the household, after increas- 
ing steadily through two centuries^ a little tribe with 
which repeated leagues had been formed, had suddenly 
and wholly melted away. But the text, on closer search, 
is consistent with the previous statements. When Joseph 
was sold, Isaac was still alive, and his household had 
not become Jacob's by direct inheritance. Still we find 
that Sludah has a body of sheep-shearers of his own, 
xxxviii. 12. As soon as the drama is complete, notices 
of the household reappear. Joseph's message to his 
father is in these words : " And thou shalt dwell in the 
land of Groshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and 
thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, 
and thy herds, and all that thou hast. And there will I 
nourish thee ; for yet there are fr^Q years of famine ; 
lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come 
to poverty." xlv. 10, 11. Pharaoh's message is similar. 
" Take your father, and yow households, and come unto 



136 THE ExX:ODUS OF ISEAEL. 

me. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the 
land of Egypt is yours." Such language is much more 
natural, when addressed to a small tribe or numerous 
household,than to thirteen adults alone. 

The presence of this household is still plainer after 
the Descent. " Joseph said unto his brethren, and 
unto his father s house, I will go up, and will show 
Pharaoh, and say unto him. My brethren, and my 
father 8 house, which were in the land of Canaan, are 
come unto me ; and the men are shepherds, for their 
trade hath been to feed cattle, and they have brought 
their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have." 
" And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and 
all his father s household, with bread, according to their 
families." Their part in the funeral of Jacob is dis- 
tinctly named. "And Joseph went up to bury his 
father ; and with him went up all the servants of 
Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of 
the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his 
brethren, and his father s house : only their little ones, 
and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land 
of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots 
and horsemen : and it was a very great company." Gren. 
1. 7-9. They are mentioned once more in the closing 
joaragraph. " And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his 
fathers house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten 
years." 1. 22. 

83. The objections to this view are, in part, manifest 
errors ; and the rest, from the silence in Joseph's his- 
tory, admit of easy explanation. First, it is said that 
" there is no word or indication of such a cortege 
having accompanied Jacob into Egypt." But the exact 
opposite has just been shewn. The household of Jacob, 
as distinct from Joseph's brethren, are twice and three 
times named. " There is no sign even in Gen. xxxii. 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 137 

xxxiii., where Jacob meets Esau, of liis having such a 
body of servants." The very reverse is plain, since he 
makes it a cause of devout thanksgiving, — '* With my 
staff I passed over this Jordan ; and nov^ I am become 
two ' bands.' " The word is used elsewhere for a mili- 
tary encampment. " It is not likely that, in that case, 
he would have sent Joseph, at seventeen, all alone, in 
search -of his brethren." He was not sent in search of 
them, but with the full expectation that they were at 
Shechem, the former home of Jacob, where Joseph's 
childhood had been mainly spent, and where Jacob had 
his only possession of land. The circumstance may be 
explained in just the opposite way, that Jacob's in- 
fluence was so great, and his household so powerful, 
that ^ he could fear no danger to his son on the road 
from Hebron to Shechem.. The real danger, from the 
malice of his brethren, had not crossed Jacob's mind, 
and the history gives no trace of any other. The 
account of Judah's marriage shews that the connection 
with the Canaanites was, on the whole_, of a friendly 
and not a hostile nature. " They were feeding their 
flocks, and seem to have had no servants with them, to 
witness their ill-treatment of their brother." Such a 
proof has clearly no weight, in opposition to the direct 
evidence of the size of Jacob's household. The main 
part of the servants might be with Jacob in the districts 
about Hebron, or feeding other flocks in other pastures. 
If there were others with the ten sons of Jacob at 
Dothan, they might either share their masters' feelings 
of envy towards a more favoured son, or be accidentally 
at a distance when Joseph arrived. On the other hand, 
the simple fact that they were feeding flocks at Dothan, 
w^hile Jacob lived at Hebron, more than a hundred 
miles away, is a plain confirmation of the previous state- 
ment, that " the land where they were strangers could 



138 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

not bear them, because of their cattle," and thus proves 
indirectly the number of the herdmen, and the size of 
the household. 

A more weighty objection is drawn from the history 
of the two journeys to Egypt. " Nothing is said of 
any servants coming down with them. The whole 
story implies the contrary. They speedily took down 
every man his sack to the ground, and opened every 
man his sack. They laded every man his ass, and 
returned to the city." " Their eleven sacks would have 
held but a scanty supply for one year's consumption of 
starving thousands." 

The last remark seems to point to a directly opposite 
conclusion. The words of Joseph were " Go, carry 
corn for the famine of your houses." But a single sack 
for a whole household, seems very unlikely indeed to 
have been the object of so long a journey. Hence there 
must be a strong presumption that each patriarch 
had several asses, and not one only, and perhaps two or 
three servants apiece. In this case there would be a 
more natural proportion between the supply obtained, 
and the length of the journey ; and there is nothing in 
the narrative which forbids such a view, though, from 
its dramatic brevity, there is no direct mention of any 
attendant servants, but of the patriarchs alone. They 
had plainly money enough for an ample purchase. 
If they took ten asses only, the only reason probable is 
that their first expedition was held to be a rather uncer- 
tain experiment ; and that the rough behaviour of the 
viceroy made them unwilling, the second time, to incur 
fresh danger by a larger cavalcade of servants and asses. 
For it is certain that, before this time, Jacob had in- 
herited a large part of Isaac's numerous household, if 
not the whole. 

84. The use of the title, Hebrew, in Genesis, 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 139 

.Rxodus, and Deuteronomy, is a further and distinct 
proof that the household of Jacob at the Descent in- 
cluded many more than his sons and grandsons. In 
G-en. ix. 18, x. 21, while Ham is called " the father of 
Canaan," Shem is said to be " the father of all the 
children of Eber." Comparing these words with the 
curse on Canaan, and the blessing of Shem, Gen. ix. 
25, 26, it is plain that the Canaanites, and the " children 
of Eber " are contrasted with each other, as a specially 
doomed, and a specially favoured race. Sixteen fami- 
lies in the list, however, have their descent from Eber, 
and still only one of these was to bear his name. That 
name signifies, to migrate or pass over, and occurs twice 
in the allusion of Joshua to the migration of Terah and 
Abraham. Josh. xxiv. 2. Hence it seems to be given 
prophetically, with reference to the migration of the 
chosen seed from Chaldea to Canaan, just as Peleg's 
name predicted the division of the earth, during his 
lifetime, among the families of Noah. The term, 
Hebrew, seems then to denote those children or descen- 
dants of Eber, who would form a distinct family from 
the rest, by migrating from Chaldea, and becoming 
sojourners in the land of Canaan. 

The first example of its use is in Q-en. xiv. 13, " And 
there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the 
Hebrew ; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amo- 
rite." The title distinguishes Abraham from the Amo- 
rites among whom he sojourned, and from the eastern 
tribes of the confederate kings. It implies naturally 
that he was one of a distinct tribe or family, to whom 
the title belonged in common, and that of this tribe or 
family he was the chief and leader. 

After a long interval the term reappears in the 
history of Joseph. It is used in Egypt as the well- 
known title of a distinct race or family. " See, he 



140 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

liath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us." " Tlie 
Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came 
in unto me to mock me." Joseph complains to his 
fellow prisoners " For indeed I was stolen away out of 
the land of the Hebrews," a well-known equivalent, 
apparently, for the land of Canaan. The butler tells 
Pharaoh, " There was with us a young man, a Hebrew, 
servant to the captain of the guard." " The Egyptians 
might not eat bread with the Hebrews ; for that is an 
abomination to the Egyptians." The Hebrews, then, 
were a distinct tribe or race, known to the Egyptians 
under that name, with whom their national prejudices 
forbade them to eat in common, as in the Isiws of caste 
in India at the present day. The tribe, as a tribe, may 
have been small ; but a small tribe is a very large 
household. 

85. In the account of the Exodus the term recurs 
continually, and is the regular Egyptian name of the 
sojourners who dwelt among them. It appears first in 
the mention of the Hebrew midwives, and the contrast 
between the Hebrew and Egyptian women. When 
Pharaoh's daughter saw the infant Moses, she said 
" This is one of the Hebrews' children." Moses saw 
an Egyptian smiting a Plebrew, and slew him, and the 
next day saw " two men of the Hebrews striving 
together." The title he was commanded to use con- 
tinually in his messages to Pharaoh was, Jehovah, the 
God of the Hebrews. After the Exodus is complete, 
the term occurs twice only in the Pentateuch, Exod. 
xxi. 2, Deut. xv. 12 ; and both times, it is remarkable, 
in connection with the existence of Hebrew, in con- 
trast to foreign servants. It appears next, much later, 
in the lips of the Philistines in the days of Samuel, — 
" What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the 
camp of the Hebrews ? Quit yourselves like men, 



TPIE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. 141 

ye Philistines, that ye be not servants nnto the Hebrews, 
as they have been servants to you." 1 Sam. iv. 6, 9. 
And once more^ still in the lips of the same people, — 
^' For the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them 
swords or spears." 1 Sam. xiii. 19. 

86. All these passages lead to the same conclusion, 
that Hebrew was a family or Gentile name, and be- 
longed to those descendants of Eber, who left their 
first home in Chaldea, and passed over beyond the 
river to Canaan ; or in other words, to those who shared 
the migration, first of Terah, and then of Lot and 
Abraham. Viewed from within, by the light of Scrip- 
ture history^ they are the household of Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, and those who branched off from that house- 
hold, and still maintained their pastoral mode of life. 
But viewed from without_, by the surrounding tribes, 
they were a distinct tribe or family of shepherds from 
Chaldea^ dwelling in Canaan in tents, and distinct from 
all the settled inhabitants of either country. Thus the 
land of Canaan was known, even in Egypt, as the land 
also of the Hebrews, and eating with the Hebrews was 
an abomination. Jehovah was known also to the 
Egyptians, simply as the God of the Hebrews, in 
contrast to their own national gods and idols. In the 
laws of Moses the term is used only in connection 
with servants. This is natural, since the term would 
include all who belonged to the households of the 
three patriarchs, and not the children of the family 
alone. 

Now since the migration into Egypt answered to the 
earlier one from Chaldea, and included the whole 
Hebrew race or family in its later and larger growth, 
it seems a moderate estimate, that it would amount to 
one thousand souls. There must otherwise have been a 
serious decline, instead of advance, since the days of 



142 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

Isaac, wliicli is opposed to the natural drift of the 
whole narrative. 

87. One objection to this view has still to be re- 
moved, from the contrast in Dent. xi. 22. " Thy 
fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten 
persons ; and now the Lord my Grod hath made thee as 
the stars of heaven for multitude." The whole stress, 
it may be urged, is here laid on the contrast between 
the numbers at the Exodus, and the fact that seventy 
souls alone went down with Jacob. 

There is no doubt that these words, if they stood 
alone, would lead to a natural inference that the sons 
and grandsons of Jacob, and they only, went down 
with him into Egypt. But the question is. Do they 
contradict the conclusion, formed on other evidence, 
that the whole Hebrew household amounted, probably, 
to nearly a thousand ? Now it seems plain that there 
is no real contradiction. The effect of the sojourn had 
been to join together the whole Hebrew family, both 
by intermarriage and common sufferings ; and all, or 
nearly all, were probably now descendants of Israel, at 
least in some female line. Four of the twelve pa- 
triarchs were the sons of handmaidens. Assuming 
the same ratio for the mixed marriages and their 
offspring in six descents, the descendants in mixed 
lines, at the Exodus, would be increased nearly twelve- 
fold, in comparison with those who were exclusively 
Israelite on both sides, and would thus include five- 
sixths of the numbered host, even if the first migration 
amounted to a.. thousand souls. In 1 Chron. ii. 35, we 
have one clear example, where a daughter of Israel 
married an Egyptian servant, and the offspring were 
reckoned to her father's genealogy. 

88. Let us now see how this fact, of the descent of 
Jacob's household to Egypt, as a tribe or Hebrew 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF JACOB. Id 3 

family of about a thousand souls, and not the sons 
and grandsons alone, bears on the question of the later 
increase. We may assume, in the three first descents, 
an average of four sons and four daughters in each 
grandson's family. Assuming one half of the daugh- 
ters to marry other Hebrews of the household, and not 
their brethren^ the ratio is the same as in the case of 
the twelve patriarchs themselves, and there will be a 
six-fold increase, including the female lines, or 216 
times in the three descents. These descents may be 
assumed to average 30 years^ and to date from 10 years 
before the Migration, and will then reach to the year 
80, leaving 116 before the limit of birth for those who 
were numbered. This is equal to four descents of 29 
years. But the ratio of 216 x 51 to 603,550 is less 
than 55 to one. Assuming 2i sons to each family, the 
second, the third, and one half of the fourth descent, 
which fall before the limit, will make an increase 57 
times, or rather more than the Scriptural number. 
This answers to 11 sons from four parents, or 33 from 
twelve parents, and is less than two thirds of the re- 
corded rate of increase, from the sons to the grandsons 
of Jacob, at the commencement of the Sojourn. 

A review, then, of the series of statements in 
the Pentateuch respecting the household of the three 
patriarchs, and the distinct meaning of the term 
Hebrew, throws fresh light on the history in Exodus, 
and removes the increase still further from that 
limit of physical possibility, which alone could justify 
any suspicion against its historical truth. It appears 
plainly to have been the fulfilment of repeated promises 
of God, — the continuance of a work of Divine wisdom 
already begun, by which Abram, the childless leader 
of a small migrating household, was changed into 
Abraham, the prolific father of a multitude of nations. 



144 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE LEVITICAL FAMILIES. 

89. The argument against the trutli of tlie sacred 
history, drawn from the account of the Levitical and 
priestly famihes, is perhaps one of the most plausible 
on a superficial view. It may be stated briefly as 
follows. 

Levi had three sons at the time of the Descent, 
Grershon, Kohath and Merari. These increased only 
to eight in the next generation ; Lihni and Shimi ; 
Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel ; and Mahali and 
Mushi. The sons of Kohath increased in the third 
generation to eight only, Aaron and Moses ; Korah, 
Nepheg, and Zithri ; Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. 
Exod. vi. 20-22. If the others increased in the same 
ratio, the Levites of the third generation would be 
sixteen only. The two sons of Amram, in the fourth 
generation, increased to six. If all the sixteen in- 
creased in that ratio, we should have 48 Levites in the 
fourth, or 44, omitting the sons of Aaron. There 
would thus be 20 Kohathites, 12 Merari tes and 12 
Gershonites, instead of 2750 Kohathites, 2630 Gershon- 
ites, and 3200 Merari tes, and a total of 8580, the num- 
bers in the text. 

Still further, excluding the two Amramites, the sons 



THE LEVmCAL FAMILIES. 145 

of Moses, who were not priests, the other Kohathites 
must consist of the descendants of Izhar and Uzziel, 
each of whom had three sons. Consequently, since 
the numbered Kohathites were 2750, these six men 
must have had among them 2748, and nearly as many 
daughters, or 458 sons and as many daughters apiece. 
According to the Chronicles, the male Levites of the 
third generation were 21, of whom one had no sons ; 
but the results from this number will not differ ma- 
terially from the former. 

Again, by the present rate of English increase " the 
22,000 Levites should have increased in 38 years to 
48,471, whereas the number of this favoured tribe is 
given only at 23,000. They should have increased by 
more than 26,000, but they are represented to have 
increased only one thousand.'* 

Again, Zelophehad had five daughters and no son ; 
Amram two sons and one daughter ; Moses two sons 
and no daughter, Izhar three sons, Korah three sons, 
Uzziel three sons, Eleazar one son. Thus in Exod. vi. 
14-25, with the two sons of Moses, 13 persons have 39 
sons, or an average of three only. At this rate the 
Levites of the fourth generation would be only 81 
instead of 8580, and the whole congregation 1377 
instead of 600,000. 

So far as this objection rests on the assumption that 
the Exodus was in the fourth descent, or that of grand- 
sons' grandsons of the Patriarchs, its total error has 
been already proved. We have now to examine the 
other pillar on which it rests, the completeness of the 
lists of sons in all the genealogies, and the growth of 
the Israelite families by lineal male descent from the 
names which are mentioned, and no others. A line of 
argument which imputes, not partial error alone, but 
gross and palpable absurdities, to that sacred history 

L 



146 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

wliicli bas been ensbrined in tbe faitb and reverence 
of tbe wbole cburcb for ages, and wbicb bas been sealed 
by tbe attesting voice of tbe Son of God, is self-con- 
victed of extreme rasbness and folly. But tbe full 
exposure of tbe source of tbe error, in tbis case, will 
require a careful induction of Scripture evidence. 

90. First, wbat ligbt can we gain, from tbe sacred 
text, on tbe mode of formation, or brancbing off of 
distinct families, derived from a common stem ? 

Our first impression would naturally be, tbat all tbe 
sons, side by side, and on a common footing, were made 
tbe beads of eacb new subdivision. But a closer observ- 
ation of tbe facts, wbicb present tbemselves in tbe genea- 
logies, will require us to modify tbis view, in a manner 
wbicb bas an important bearing on our present inquiry. 

Let us begin witb tbe earliest case^ tbe sons of Noab. 
Here we bave a total of exactly 70 names, tbe sacred 
number, wbicb reappears at tbe Descent of Israel, in 
tbe palm-trees of Elim, tbe seventy elders at Sinai, 
and tbe seventy disciples in tbe New Testament. Of 
tbese names, 14 belong to Japbet; 30 to Ham, and 26 to 
Sbem. But wben we look at tbem more closely, a 
remarkable feature appears. Tbe fourteen Japbetic 
families include seven sons of Japbet arid as many 
grandsons, wbo are tbus tbe beads of distinct families 
from tbeir own parents. Tbe tbirty families of Ham 
include four sons, twenty -four grandsons, and two great 
grandsons, Sbeba and Dedan. Again, tbe twenty-six 
Sbemite families are still more remarkable. Tbeir 
beads are ^ve sons of Sbem, '^ve grandsons_, one great- 
grandson, Eber ; two grandsons' grandsons, Peleg and 
Joktan ; and tbirteen beads of families, or one balf tbe 
wbole number, from tbe sons of Joktan in tbe fiftb 
descent. All idea^ in tbis case, of a purely collateral 
division of tbe families must clearly be laid aside. 



THE LEVITIOAL FAMILIES. 147 

Again, another consequence results with equal clear- 
ness. Gomer had three sons, Ashkenaz, Riphath, and 
Togarmah, who were heads of distinct families. But 
he must plainly have had other sons besides, or no 
family of Gomerites, distinct from these, could have 
been formed. For the same reason Javan must have 
had other sons besides Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and 
Dodanim. In short, whenever sons are heads of 
families ranked side by side with that of their father, it 
is a self-evident consequence that they are not a com- 
plete list of his children. They must have younger 
brothers, whose offspring forms a distinct family under 
the father's name. 

Let us assume that the birth of sons to a parent 
ranges over the interval from 20 to 50 years, which 
would be probable in a time of rapid increase. It is 
clear that the sons born in the later half of this period, 
from 35 to 50 years, will rank side by side in age with 
the eldest sons of their eldest brothers. And hence it 
is easy to understand why two, three, or four of the 
eldest sons, should become heads of families side by side 
with their own father ; whose name would thus be con- 
j&ned to the descendants of his younger sons, of like 
age with their own nephews. 

91. The case of Eber is still more remarkable. Shem, 
who is three generations above him, is called '' the 
father of all the children of Eber," while the name first 
occurs as a patronymic, applied to " Abraham the 
Hebrew," six generations below him. His two scms, 
Peleg and Joktan, and thirteen sons of Joktan, were 
heads of distinct families. Hence, since Eber survived 
the birth of Peleg 430 years, a distinct family seems to 
have been formed, not from his younger sons, but 
through one of his lineal descendants in a direct line ; 
either Nahor, Abraham's grandfather, or Terah and 

L 2 



148 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

Abraham himself, as we accept the Septuagint oi the 
Hebrew numbers. Thus the Hebrew history is founded 
on a total departure from the rule, of the formation of 
families by direct brotherhood, or collaterally alone. 

92. Let us now turn to the list of Jacob's family 
at the Descent, which also includes seventy names. 
The correspondence is plainly not accidental, since the 
same number reappears throughout the sacred history, 
down to the mission of the seventy disciples by our 
Lord himself. In the song of Moses, some special corre- 
spondence is affirmed to exist between the number of 
Israel and the distribution of the sons of Noah, Deut. 
xxxii. 8. Most of the names in this first list became 
the heads of Israelite families. But Jacob, and his 
twelve sons, with Dinah and Sarah, were excluded from 
the first from having this character ; while Ephraim 
and Manasseh were excluded afterwards, by their 
exaltation into tribes; and ^ve others, one son of 
Simeon, one of Asher, and three of Benjamin, disap- 
pear from the list of families before the Conquest. 
The missing number were to be supplied from the fami- 
hes of Manasseh and Ephraim, promoted into tribes 
before Jacob's death, and from those of Levi, raised into 
priestly dignity at the Exodus. Accordingly, eight 
families of Manasseh, and four of Ephraim, seem to 
replace the twelve patriarchs, into whose rank the sons 
of Joseph were raised; ^ve added Levitical famihes 
seem to replace the names of Jacob, Manasseh, Ephraim, 
Dinah, and Sarah ; and the G.Ye daughters of Zelo- 
phehad, perhaps, the families of Simeon and of Asher, 
and the three of Benjamin, which had disappeared at 
the close of the journey in the wilderness. This, or 
something like this, seems to hav€ been the nature of 
the substitution. 

93, Here, agaiit, the same principle is conspicuous as 



THE LEVITICAL FAMILIES. 149 

in the families of the sons of Noah. Hezron and Hamul 
are heads of two families, the Hezronites and Hamul- 
ites, while Pharez their father is head of a distinct 
family of the Pharzites. Beriah, the son of Asher, and 
his two sons, Heber and Malchiel, are, in the same way, 
heads of three families. From Shuthelah, son of 
Ephraim, is the family of the Shuthalhites ; and from 
his son Eran, the family of the Eranites. Here, then, 
it is plain that Pharez had other sons besides Hezron 
and Hamul, Beriah others besides Heber and Malchiel, 
and Shuthelah one at least, and probably several, be- 
sides Eran ; or they could not have been the founders of 
distinct and separate families of their own. 

But the case of the families of Manasseh is the most 
singular and instructive, and bears a strong analogy 
to the earlier precedent in the case of the families of 
Shem. We saw there that Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, 
Joktan, Almodad, etc., '^ve degrees of lineal descent, 
were all of them heads of distinct families. The ar- 
rangement of the families of Manasseh follows a similar 
law. Machir, son of Manasseh, is head of the Machir- 
ites ; Gilead, son of Machir, of the Gileadites ; six sons 
of Gilead, of six other families, and among them 
Hepher, of the Hepherites. Still later, the ^ve daugh- 
ters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, seem to be taken 
into the list, not only because they complete the number 
of seventy, but from the express statement. Josh. xvii. 
5, 6 : " And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside 
the land of Gilead and Bashan, because the daughters 
of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons." Thus 
the heads of the families range, as in the former case, 
through five degrees of lineal descent. And hence we 
conclude that, when sons are named as the heads of 
families, it is sometimes certain, and often probable, that 
there were other younger sons, whose names are not 



150 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

given, but who are summed up under their father's 
name. 

94. Another principle of the early genealogies, which 
seems plainly taught in Gen. xlviii. 5, 6, is that 
younger sons might sometimes be reckoned sons, by 
adoption, of their elder brothers. By such means a 
remedy would be provided for the too rapid multiplica- 
tion of weak collateral lives. The words of Jacob to 
Joseph are very explicit. " And now thy two sons, 
Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in 
the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, 
are mine ; as Eeuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 
And thine issue, which thou begettest after them, shall 
be thine, and shall he called after the name of their brethren 
in their inheritance,'' Here the patriarch expects that 
Joseph would have other sons, and directs that they 
should be enrolled in the genealogy as sons of Ephraim 
or of Manasseh. The age of Joseph, at the time, was 
56 years, and that of Manasseh and Ephraim about 
21 and 24 years. Hence any later born son of Joseph 
would rank naturally, in point of age, with his own 
eldest nephews. It seems unlike the dignity of Scrip- 
ture to suppose these words of the aged patriarch put 
on record, if they had no fulfilment ; and we know that 
Levi had a daughter in Egypt, at the age of 100 
or 110 years. The conclusion seems to follow natu- 
rally, that the same rule would apply to the other 
eleven patriarchs. The oldest was 45 years old, and the 
youngest 25, at the Descent, and yet no single grand- 
son, born later, appears as the head of a family. It 
is highly improbable, under such a special promise of 
rapid increase, that none of them would have any male 
offspring during the thirty-five years, until Benjamin 
reached the age of sixty. But if they had other sons, 
the law prescribed by Jacob would evidently apply, and 



THE LEVITICAL FAMILIES. 151 

they would " be called after the name of their brethren 
in their inheritance." Thus, while four great-grand- 
sons were promoted to be heads of families, several 
grandsons, on the other hand, might be reckoned as if 
sons of one or other of the fifty-one in the list, who had 
been already born before the Descent occurred. 

95. Another feature of the Scripture genealogies is 
the occasional transition to the female line, so that a 
son may mean a son-in-law, or a maternal grandson. 
One example of this is found in the* Book of Ezra, 
ii. 61, at the return from Babylon. Mention is there 
made of " the children of Barzillai, which took a wife 
of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was 
called after their name." Since they could not find 
their paternal genealogy, " therefore were they, as pol- 
luted, put from the priesthood." 

A still more prominent case is that of " Jair, the son 
of Manasseh." It appears from 1 Chron. ii. 21 that 
he was grandson to Hezron, the grandson of Judah. 
Still he is called the son of Manasseh, and received his 
inheritance with the Machirites, among the half tribe 
of Manasseh, in the land of Bashan. The reason is that 
Segub, his father, was the son of Machir's daughter, 
whom Hezron married at sixty years of age. Thus in- 
heritance by the mother's side became a prominent fact 
in the allotment of the tribes ; for Jair had sixty towns, 
named after him Havoth-Jair, in the land of Grilead. 

Again, in the same chapter, we read that Sheshan 
had no sons, but daughters, and " he had a servant, an 
Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave 
his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife, and she 
bare him Attai." The descendants of Attai, for twelve 
generations, are then included in the genealogies of 
Israel. The maternal wholly supersedes the paternal line. 

A fourth case of the same kind, usually overlooked, 



152 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

is in 1 Chron. vi. 22. ^' The sons of Kohatb, Ammi- 
nadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son." But we 
know from three passages, Exod. vi. 18, 21, Num. 
xvi. 1, 1 Chron. vi. 37, 38, that Korah was the son of 
Izhar, and Izhar the son of Kohath. The idea that 
Amminadah is another name for Izhar is improbable in 
itself ; and doubly so, when we observe that Amminadah, 
the son of Eam, is named, in the same genealogy in 
Exodus, as the father of Elisheba, Aaron's wife. There 
is here one explicit case of intermarriage between the 
heads of the two tribes, nearest in birth and in honour, 
Levi and Judah. Let us suppose that Korah married 
another daughter of Amminadah, and that Ammina- 
dab's mother was a daughter of Kohath, and the double 
genealogy, Kohath, Izhar, Korah — Kohath, Ammi- 
nadah, and Korah — is fully explained, and will be found 
in complete harmony with the most probable view of 
their relative ages, and the chronology of the Sojourn. 

96. One further remark is of some importance, before 
considering the genealogies in detail. Descent by eldest 
sons has an evident pre-eminence from the law of pri- 
mogeniture ; but a descent by youngest sons, in a time 
of oral and traditional revelation, and of rapid increase, 
has clearly a prerogative of a different kind. If we 
class contemporaries by the number of descents from 
the first parent, the descendants by youngest sons must 
usually rank higher than the rest. Thus at the Exodus 
the whole number of the people was about eighteen 
hundred thousand ; but probably Moses, Aaron, and 
Miriam, were the only three persons who survived in a 
second descent from the patriarchs, either by their 
father's or mother's side. In like manner, only Korah, 
Mishael, Elzaphan, and a few others not named, shared 
with them the distinction of being only in the third 
descent on the father's side. Hur, and many of the 



THE LEYITICAL FAMILIES. 153 

elders were in the fourth descent ; Nahshon and a still 
larger number in the fifth ; while the main body of the 
people would be in the sixth and seventh descents. 
And thus, as the line of eldest sons would have one 
kind of priority, survivors in the youngest line would 
have an opposite distinction, in many cases, from belong- 
ing to a higher descent, and thus being one or more 
steps nearer to the head of the whole family. Moses, 
Aaron, and Miriam, inasmuch as their mother was own 
daughter to Levi^ had thus a natural pre-eminence over 
the multitude of Israelites, of whom they were the 
Divinely appointed leaders. 

97. Let us now examine the first genealogy, Exod. 
vi. 14-27, from which one main objection to the truth 
of the Book of Numbers has been drawn. It is in these 
w^ords : — 

^' These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The 
sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel ; Hanoch, and 
Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi : these are the families of 
Eeuben. 

" And the sons of Simeon ; Jemuel, and Jamin, and 
Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a 
Canaanitish woman : these are the families of Simeon. 

" And these are the names of the sons of Levi, ac- 
cording to their generations ; Grershon, and Kohath, 
and Merari : and the years of the life of Levi were a 
hundred and thirty and seven years. 

"The sons of Gershon ; Libni, and Shimi, according 
to their families. 

" And the sons of Kohath ; Amram, and Izhar, and 
Hebron, and Uzziel : and the years of the life of 
Kohath were a hundred and thirty-three years. 

" And the sons of Merari ; Mahali and Mushi : these 
are the families of Levi, according to their generations. 

" And Amram took him Jochebed, his father's sister, 



154 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

to wife ; and slie bare him Aaron and Moses : and the 
years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty- 
seven years. 

" And the sons of Izhar ; Korah, and Nepheg, and 
Zithri. And the sons of Uzziel : Mishael, and Elza- 
phan, and Zithri. 

" And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Ammi- 
nadab, sister of Naashon, to wife ; and she bare him 
Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 

" And the sons of Korah ; Assir, and Elkanah, and 
Abiasaph : these are the famiHes of the Korhites. 

" And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took him one of the 
daughters of Putiel to wife ; and she bare him Phinehas : 
these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites, ac- 
cording to their families. 

^^ These are that Aaron and Moses, to w^hom the 
Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the 
land of Egypt, according to their armies. These are 
they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring 
out the children of Israel from Egypt : these are that 
Moses and Aaron." 

98. The first question on this passage must be. Is it 
meant for a complete genealogy of three tribes, or even 
of the tribe of Levi, for four generations, or only a 
genealogy of the heads of Israelite families, and of a 
few names conspicuous in the history ? The answer is 
given in express words. " These are the heads of their 
fathers' houses." " These are the families of the 
Levites, according to their generations." " These are 
the families of the Korhites." " These are the heads of 
the fathers of the Levites according to their families." 
It is plain, then, that heads of families, or leaders of 
the people, are given, and not lists of entire families. 

Let us consider the subject in some of its details. 
Levi was 43 years old at the migration, when he had 



THE LEVITICAL FAMIIJES. 155 

already three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, and 
no daugliter. But from his birth to that of Moses 
are 178 years, which must be shared between Levi's 
age at the birth of Jochebed, and that of Jochebed 
at the birth of Moses. If the latter were 65 years, the 
former will be 113, or her birth 70 years after the 
Migration, just before the death of Joseph. Is it, then, 
at all probable that Levi had three sons and no daugh- 
ter at 43, no son or daughter for 70 years, and one 
daughter at the close of that long interval ? All 
probability seems to lie the other way, that both sons 
and daughters were born to him during the earlier 
part of these seventy years. Their absence in the list 
is no objection, because the words of Jacob furnish a 
distinct key to the genealogical reckoning. " Thine 
issue, which thou begettest after them . . . shall be called 
after the name of their brethren in their inheritance." 
Thus any later-born sons of Levi, and any sons-in-law 
from the household, who might marry elder sisters of 
Jochebed, would be ranked under one of the three 
" heads of the fathers of Levi " — Gershon, Kohath, and 
Merari. 

Again, Kohath lived 133 years, and probably from 
120 to 130 were after the Descent. It is a likely in- 
ference, from 1 Chron. vi. 22, that he had a daughter, 
the mother of Amminadab, when about 70 years old. 
There would thus be a probable distance of 30 or 40 
years between the birth of his earliest and latest child. 
Four sons and one daughter, in so long a space, do not 
correspond to a promise of unusual fertility. Hence it 
is almost certain that he had several daughters, and 
might have several younger sons, who are not expressly 
named. These also would be included in one of the 
four sub-families, and probably, on the principle of the 
paschal companies, and of 1 Chron. xxiii. 11, would be 



156 THE EXODUS OF IST^AEL. 

added to the less numerous family, so as to lessen the 
inequality. 

99. Let us next consider the facts with regard to 
Amram himself, the father of Moses and Aaron. It is 
usual to assume that they were his only sons, the 
offspring of a first and only marriage. But the various 
statements of the text, when compared, lead naturally 
to a very different view. From the order in which he 
is named, he seems to have been the firstborn of 
Koliath, and therefore would probably be born not more 
than 35 years after the Descent. This would be just 
100 years before the birth of Moses, and 35 years 
before the birth of Jochebed. Is it likely that the 
eldest son of Kohath would abstain from marriage till the 
age of 55 years, and then 42 years more elapse, before 
a son was born to him ? The first mention of the birth 
of Moses has none of the marks of a complete family 
history. No allusion occurs in it to the previous birth 
of Aaron, and even the fact that a sister was already 
born comes out quite incidentally in the narrative. If 
there had been one or two previous marriages of 
Amram, it is plain that they would also be passed by 
in silence. Neither in Exod. vi. 20, nor in Num. xxvi. 
59, have we a direct statement of the sons of Amrara ; 
but we are told that he took Jochebed to wife, and she 
bare him '^ Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister." 
But since it results from the whole account that he was 
probably just a century old at Moses' birth, we have 
the strongest historical presumption that he had one, 
if not two wives, before Jochebed, by whom he might 
have had a dozen children. None of these, and pro- 
bably none of their children, would survive at the 
Exodus ; so that the prominence, in the genealogy, of 
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, who were two descents 
nearer to Amram and Levi than all the other Amram- 



THE LEVITICAL FAMILIES. 157 

ites, would be quite explicable, apart from their super- 
natural commission, on the ground of this real prece- 
dence alone. 

100. The objection lately made takes the specious 
form, that the Amramites are spoken of as a distinct 
family in Num. iii. 27, when those of them who were 
not priests were only two in number, Gershom and 
Eliezer, the sons of Moses. Yet the males of the four 
Kohathite families are said to be 8600, and those 
between 30 and 50 years, 2750. But we have a plain 
testimony, which refutes this misconstruction of the 
genealogies, and shews that the history is consistent in 
ascribing to Amram, at this very time, a family of 
many persons. We read the command to Aaron, 
Num. xviii. 1, 2. ^' Thou and thy sons and thy father s 
house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary : 
and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity 
of your priesthood. And thy brethren also of the tribe 
of Levi, the tribe of thy father bring thou with thee, 
that they may be joined unto thee and minister unto 
thee." Here three gradations are specified : — Aaron 
and his sons, who were to bear the iniquity of the 
priesthood ; the house of Aaron's father, or the Amram- 
ites, who were to share with him and his sons in 
bearing the iniquity of the sanctuary ; and the whole 
tribe of Levi^ who were to minister, but in a relation 
less intimate. Thus the Levites were to be separated 
from the other tribes, and brought near to God ; the 
Kohathites, who carried the most holy things, Num. iv. 
17-20, were brought nearest of the three Levitical 
families ; the Amramites, the house of Aaron's father, 
were specially distinguished in their office, among the 
sub-families of the Kohathites, while Aaron and his 
sons alone had the highest honour of the priestly office. 
He who can confound the secret and delicate harmony 



158 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

of these arrangements, so worthy of the Divine wisdom 
and hohness, with the crude inventions of forgery, and 
think there were no Amramites to whom they apphed, 
must be strangely bhnd to the true laws of historical 
evidence. 

The difficulty, then, from the supposed want of a 
family of Amramites finds a very easy and full reply. 
First, it is probable that Amram lived from the age of 
20 to 55, or a complete term of parentage, before 
Jochebed was marriageable, and nearly forty years 
more, before there is proof of their actual marriage by 
the birth of Miriam. So far as the history and chro- 
nology are any guide, he might have had ten sons and 
as many daughters, before that marriage of which 
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam appear to have been the sole 
issue. Since the birth of these would range from 160 
to 125 years before the Exodus, the youngest of them, 
and probably all their children, must have been dead 
when it occurred. Aaron and Moses would thus be 
natural " heads of their father's house ;" which might 
have been further increased from other sons and daugh- 
ters of Levi born after Merari, and other sons and 
daughters of Kohath, born after Uzziel, and from the 
household or dependents of Levi, who accompanied him 
at the Descent into Egypt. 

101. The startling assertion, that each of the six sons 
of Izhar and Uzziel, by the text, must have had 458 
sons and as many daughters apiece, rests on four 
premises ; that the Amramites were two only, the sons 
of Moses ; that the rest must have been Izharites or 
Lzzielites ; that the six sons of Izhar and Uzziel could 
have had no grandsons old enough to be numbered ; 
and that they were the only sons of their parents, from 
whom the whole sub-family must have sprung. 

All these assumptions are equally groundless. First, 



THE LEVITICAL FAMILIES. 159 

the Amramites, it has been shewn, were a real sub-family, 
and may have been as numerous as any of the three 
others. Secondly, the Hebronites, a second sub-family, 
are wholly forgotten. Thirdly, the sons of Korah are 
expressly said to be heads of families, and must there- 
fore have had sons of adult age, and the same would 
probably be true of the sons of the five others. By 
these patent errors, the disproportion to be explained 
has been increased to six times its real amount. But 
the chief element in the true explanation is found in 
the principle, already confirmed by various evidence, 
that' the fist in Exod. vi. is not exhaustive and com- 
plete, but is simply what it professes to be, a list of the 
actual heads and leaders at the time of the Exodus. 

To see this more clearly, we must refer once more to 
the list of names at the Descent. This is plainly made 
a Divine starting point of the national history. The 
grandsons, and the two great-grandsons then born, and 
the two others who were the legal successors of Er and 
Onan, are alone included in the list, and alone become 
heads of Israelite families. The number, seventy, for 
the families, has plainly a sacred character, like that of 
twelve for the tribes ; and they reappear in the Twelve 
Apostles and Seventy Disciples of the New Testament. 
But fifteen of the names could not be heads of families, 
being those of Jacob, Dinah, Sarah, and the twelve 
patriarchs. This number, therefore, had to be sup- 
plied afterwards. It was increased to seventeen, when 
Manasseh and Ephraim were promoted to be tribes ; 
but at the same time their families would evidently 
serve, at least in part, to fill up the vacancies. When 
Levi, at the giving of the Law, was promoted to 
priestly honour, a similar change occurred, and its sub- 
families seem to have taken rank with the families of 
the other tribes. Thus the Descent was the origin for 



160 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

the other ten tribes, but the Exodus was a new origin 
for Levi ; while the famiHes of Manasseh and Ephraiia 
are first put on record, and finally settled, at the later 
census before the entrance into Canaan. 

During the interval, five families have disappeared, 
those of Ohad, son of Simeon, Ishuah, son of Asher 
and Becher, Gera and Rosh, sons of Benjamin. The 
missing number are supplied, frve from Levi, eight 
from Manasseh, and four from Ephraim, completing the 
first vacancies ; and five more from the daughters of 
Manasseh, to supply these vacancies more recently 
made. That the arrangement in the other tribes 
was strictly historical with reference to the grandsons 
at the Descent, seems plain from one example ; for 
Dan continued to be reckoned as one family, though the 
tribe at the Exodus was actually second, or nearest to 
Judah in its total number. But, however many the 
sons or daughters of Dan after the Descent, they were 
doubtless to be " called after the name of their brother 
in their inheritance." 

The same principle, then, must naturally apply to the 
families of Levi, at the new era of the Exodus, and of 
the Levitical covenant. The three families were to be 
enlarged to eight, the eight eldest-born grandsons of 
Levi replacing his three sons, or five sub -families 
being added to the first number. This change is set 
before us in two different ways. In Exod. vi. 17-19, 
we read " The sons of Gershon ; Libni, and Shimi, ac- 
cording to their families. And the sons of Kohath ; 
Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. And the 
sons of Merari ; Mahali and Mushi : these are the families 
of Levi according to their generations." So again in 
Num. iii. 17-20. " And these were the sons of Levi by 
their names ; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. And 
these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their 



THE LEVITIOAL FAMILIES. IGl 

families ; Libni, and Shimi. And the sons of Kohath bi/ 
their families ; Amram, and Izbar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 
And the sons of Merari bi/ their families; Mabli, and 
Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according 
to the bouse of their fathers." So also in ver. 21, 27, 33. 
But in Num. xxvi. 57, 58, the nomenclature is varied, 
the same number of eight Levitical families being re- 
tained. '^ These are they that were numbered of the 
Levites after their families : of Gershon, the family of 
the Grershonites : of Kohath, the family of the Kohath- 
ites : of Merari^ the family of the Merarites. These are 
the families of the Levites : the family of the Libnites, 
the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, 
the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korathites." 
Three sub-families of Shimi, Amram, and Uzziel, are 
not specified, because the three original families have 
been named just before. The enlargement of three 
original families to eight is thus expressed in a different 
way. 

102. Two conclusions appear to follow with regard 
to the genealogy in Exod. vi. 16-27. First, the two 
sons of Gershon, the four of Kohath, and the two of 
Merari, are returned as heads of sub-families, promoted 
to the rank of families ; and by no means exclude the 
possibility, or even the probability, of other sons to 
their respective fathers, who would be named after 
their elder brothers in the inheritance. Again, in the 
next generation, the list is one of actual survivors at 
the time of the Exodus, just as actual grandsons and 
great-grandsons are recorded at the time of the Descent ; 
and. it is limited to these alone. Besides the plain 
analogy, there are internal reasons for this view. No 
sons of Libni and Shimi, of Mahli and Mushi are 
named; though we know from 1 Cliron. xxiii. 7-23, 
as well as from the mention of their families Num. 

M 



162 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

XX vi. 58, that all of them had children. Again, 
among the four sons of Kohath, no sons of Hebron are 
mentioned ; though the Hebronite family is named three 
times in Numbers, and supplied 2700 chief fathers in 
the time of David. 1 Chron. xxvi. 32. On the other 
hand, three other sons of Kohath have sons assigned to 
them, and we know that Rve of these, out of eight, 
were actually alive at the Exodus. It is natural to 
infer that Nepheg, and the two Zithris, being younger 
brothers of Korah and Mishael^ were alive also. These 
were also^ apparently, all the survivors in the third 
descent, and would thus have a natural leadership in 
their families. Now we know that Moses and Aaron 
were actually, by Divine commission, leaders of all the 
host, as well as of the tribe of Levi. Korah became the 
ringleader of a rebellion, which was evidently prompted 
by envy at the superior dignity Aaron had attained ; 
and Elzaphan or Elizaphan the son of Uzziel^, was 
'^ chief of the house of the father of the families of the 
Kohath ites." Num. iii. 30. The genealogy includes 
further the sons of Aaron, and those of Korah, and one 
grandson of Aaron^ Phinehas ;. all of whom were plainly 
living at the Exodus, and are mentioned more or less 
prominently as leaders in the later history. 

103. This view, which results from a comparison of 
the lists at the Descent and the Exodus, is strongly 
confirmed by an appeal to the chronology. It has been 
shewn to be very probable that Amram was about 
100 years old at the birth of Moses, or 97 at the birth 
of Aaron. Supposing Korah, Mishael, and Elzaphan, 
to be as old as Aaron, and they are not likely to have 
been older, and ^ve years' interval between each son 
of Kohath, it follows that Izhar would be about 92 
years old at the birth of Korah, and Uzziel about 82 
at the birth of Mishael or Elzaphan. The proba- 



THE LEVITICAL FAMILIES. 1G3 

bility, then, must be very strong, that these were not 
the oldest, but along with their two brothers, the 
youngest sons, and that they had several brothers, 
40 or 50 years older than themselves, none of whom 
were living at the Exodus. Thus the adult Izharites 
and Uzzielites might easily amount, in each case, to 
700 ; and still Korah, the son of Izhar, and Elzaphan, 
the son of Uzziel, would be the natural leaders of 
their sub-families, through their immediate descent 
from that son of Kohath, from whom each sub-family 
derived its name. 

Let us assume^ for instance, that Izhar was born 
five years after Amram, or 40 after the Descent, which 
implies a generation of 45 years at least for his father 
Kohath. The interval to the limit of the numbered 
adult Levites, will be 146 years, and to the limit of the 
whole tribe of Levi, 176 years. Assuming four sons in 
each descent of 29 years, the Izharites born before the 
first limit would be 1024, reduced probably to 700 by 
the time of the census thirty years later ; and the next 
descent would increase them to 4000. This would 
answer to 16,000 for the whole family of Kohath, or to 
twice the Scriptural number. Now it results, from a 
comparison of the adult and infant Levites, that the 
births in this tribe must have been less rapid in the 
twenty years before the Exodus. 

104. The result of this review is to turn the objection, 
at first sight rather formidable, which has been founded 
on a hasty and superficial interpretation of the ge- 
nealogies, into a fresh illustration of the consistency 
and historical reahty of the inspired narrative. The 
singular discovery, that the Levites ought to have in- 
creased from 22,000 in the wilderness to 48,471, because 
that is the ratio of increase in England for the last ten 
years, is unworthy of a serious reply. Such a line of 

M 2 



164 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

argument, consistently pursued, will turn all the history 
of modern Europe into a series of legends, since pro- 
bably the rate of no single country besides our own 
would satisfy this new test of historical truth, and the 
English history of the middle ages must be a fiction 
also. " It must be sufficiently plain," that by the 
standard thus applied to the word of God, to justify 
a rejection of its Divine authority, the annals of every 
country except our own, and even of our own in former 
centuries, " are of no historical value whatever." 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 165 



CHAPTER Xiy. 

THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 

105. The objections to tlie truth of the Pentateuch, 
founded on the duties of the priests, are of a nature so 
pecuHar as to make it difficult to offer a calm and 
patient reply. A total stranger to the sacrificial sys- 
tem of the Jews, after a twelvemonth's broken study 
under the most evident bias, ventures, on the strength 
of statements most loose and inexact, and of blind 
guesses in the dark at secondary details of the sacrificial 
service, to impute falsehood and folly to Divine com- 
mands, which have been sealed by the most solemn 
attestation of our blessed Lord, when a touch of his 
finger had just healed the leper. This is indeed a 
moral prodigy. It seems needful here to deviate from 
the course pursued in former chapters, and to track the 
argument, through its manifold mistakes, from the 
opening to the close. 

A summary is first offered of the duties assigned to 
the priest. He was to offer the burnt-offerings, the meat- 
offerings, peace - offerings, the sin and trespass - offer- 
ings ; to take part in every offering after childbirth, in 
every case of leprosy and its cure, in other ceremonial 
purifications, in the offering of the Nazarite at the close 
of his vow, in the daily burnt-offering, in those of the 
Sabbaths and appointed feasts, and in the seventh 
month in extraordinary and additional sacrifices. 

"If it should be thought that the above system was 



166 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

not meant to be in full operation in the wilderness, we 
may call attention to the frequent references made to 
the camp, Lev. iv. 12, 21, vi. 11, xiii. 46, xiv. 36, as 
well as to the words of the prophet Amos v. 25 : 
* Have ye offered nnto Me sacrifices and offerings in 
the wilderness forty years, house of Israel ?' which 
show that in the prophet's view, at all events, such 
sacrifices were required and expected of them. . . . For 
all these multifarious duties of a population like that of 
London, besides the daily and extraordinary sacrifices, 
how many priests were there ? The answer is very 
simple — three only, Aaron till his death, and his two 
sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. And it is laid down very 
solemnly, in Num. iii. 10 : ' Thou shalt appoint Aaron 
and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office : 
and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to 
death.' Yet how was it possible that these two or 
three men should have discharged all these duties for 
such a vast multitude ?" (P. E. p. 123.) 

106. The main argument, then, is of this kind. If 
all the Israelites in the wilderness had begun at once to 
observe zealously all the sacrifices, whether optional or 
compulsory, in Leviticus, the priests at that time would 
have been unequal to all the services required. Now 
the Pentateuch states two things with equal plainness ; 
that such ordinances were then published, and that the 
years in the wilderness were a time of national disobe- 
dience and also of its punishment, til] a younger 
generation were trained for the possession of the land. 
Therefore both its statements are untrue. The laws 
could not have been given, and mainly neglected or 
disobeyed, because the priests would have been too few 
for their work in the case of universal obedience. 
In the same way it may be proved, with equal cogency, 
that the command, " Do this in remembrance of me," 



THE PEIESTS IN THE WILDEKNESS. 1G7 

has not been given to Christians, because tbe actual 
clergy, even in many English parishes, would be over- 
whelmed with the sacramental services, if ten millions 
communicated every time. Still more plainly in the 
Church of England, which has had parishes of 30,000 
souls, the rubric, which appoints words to be spoken to 
each communicant one by one, must clearly be ^'unhis- 
torical " and a mere legend, since one service in these 
cases would occupy nearly a hundred hours ! 

The fundamental falsehood of this argument is very 
clear. " By the law," St. Paul tells us, ^' is the know- 
ledge of sin ;" and it entered " that the offence might 
abound." It was not given with the expectation of 
securing, even in its ceremonial portions, immediate 
and universal obedience. On the contrary, its first and 
most immediate object was to bring to light the secret 
ungodliness of the heart of man. It fulfilled this pur- 
pose as soon as given, when the Israelites who came 
out of Egypt " hardened their hearts in the provoca- 
tion, and in the day of temptation in the wilderness." 
It fulfils it now, when the like spirit of unbelief leads 
Christians to disown its Divine authority, and to impute 
folly to those lively oracles, which the Lord gave by 
Moses to the fathers, although sealed by a thousand testi- 
monies in Grod's later messages, by the parting voice of 
the Old Testament, and by one of the first oracles of the 
Divine Lawgiver in the Gospel. " Remember ye the 
law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto 
him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judg- 
ments." " Think not that I am come to destroy the 
law and the prophets ; I am not come to destroy, but 
to fulfil. For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and 
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
from the law, till all be fulfilled." Mai. iv. 4, Mat. v. 
17, 18. 



168 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

107. TLe words of Amos, v. 25, are quoted, to prove 
that " in the prophet's view, at all events," such sacri- 
fices were required and expected of them. But that 
passage cuts up the whole objection from the roots. 
The argument is, that the laws in Leviticus are a 
fiction, and could not have been actually given, be- 
cause, in case of universal obedience, the duties of the 
priests would be excessive and impossible. A text is 
quoted to confirm it, where God himself, in the course 
of a severe rebuke of his people, contradicts alike the 
premise and the conclusion ; where it is assumed, as 
notorious and undeniable, that the Law had actually 
been given in the wilderness, and where a national cap- 
tivity is foretold to the Israelites for the disobedience 
of their fathers in the wilderness, as well as their own ! 

But were all the various sacrifices enumerated even 
required in the wilderness ? The words in Amos refer 
plainly to free-will offerings. Let us examine the speci- 
fied duties in order. First, the burnt-offerings, meat- 
offerings, and peace-offerings were to be brought by 
each " of his own voluntary will," and no number or 
frequency was enjoined. The sin-offering and tresjDass- 
offering might be frequently due among a people of ten- 
der consciences and contrite hearts ; but the actual state 
of that generation is recorded in these words : " The Lord 
hath not given you a heart to perceive, eyes to see, and 
ears to hear, unto this day," Deut. xxix. 4. The cure of 
leprosy, far from being of daily occurrence, is only men- 
tioned as a rare and occasional miracle, both under the 
Law and the Grospel. The vow of the Nazarite, from 
its nature, was intended for " a land of vines and ^g 
trees and pomegranates," and we have no reason to 
think that one case occurred, or was meant to occur, in 
the wilderness. The daily and Sabbath offerings were 
plainly quite within the competence of Aaron and his 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 169 

two sons. Again, the services of Pentecost and of the 
feast of Tabernacles were expressly limited, by their insti- 
tution, to the land of promise. The first is introduced 
with the words — " When ye be come into the land which 
I give unto you ;" and the second with the instruction. 
" When ye have gathered in the fruits of the land," 
Lev. xxiii. 10, 39 ; while the reason for the institution, 
in V. 43, applies only to the time when their dwelling 
in tents had ceased. 

108. A more fundamental question remains. Were 
the laws in Leviticus designed or intended, from the 
first, for observance during forty years in the wilder- 
ness ? When we examine the sacred text with care, 
nothing can be clearer than that it gives no warrant at 
all for such a view. These laws, and those which follow 
at the opening of Numbers, were given in the first 
month of the second year, when all the people were 
expecting, within a few months, to enter Canaan and 
take possession. On the 20th day of the second month 
their march directly northward began, and the cloud 
did not rest till they came to the wilderness of Paran_, 
near the southern boundary of the promised land. Thus 
all the laws in Leviticus were published, from the first, 
with direct reference to a speedy march through the 
wilderness, and entrance on the inheritance. And this 
character is plainly impressed on nearly every portion. 
Thus in chap. ii. the law is given for meat-offerings of 
flour, when we know that they had no bread in the 
wilderness, and their complaint was expressed a few 
weeks later, ^' There is nothing at all, beside this manna, 
before our eyes," Num. xi. 6. The third chapter de- 
fines its purpose to be '^ a perpetual statute for their 
generations, throughout all their dwellings." The 
term is constantly, and, I think, invariably, applied to 
settled habitations. In Lev. v. 11^ an offering of flour 



170 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

is again appointed. In chap. vi. 13^ the law is given : 
" The fire shall ever be burning on the altar ; it shall 
never go out :" which could hardly apply to their life in 
the wilderness, when the altar had to be conveyed from 
place to place. An offering of flour is again prescribed 
for the priests_, vi. 19-23. In the cleansing of the 
leper, a bird was to be killed *^ over running water," and 
the other let loose *' into the open field," instructions 
better suited to the promised land, than to the wilder- 
ness. The law concerning the leprosy of a house, 
by its own nature, and by its opening words, was to 
take effect '' when they were come into the land of 
Canaan," xiv. 34. The ordinance of the day of atone- 
ment turns on the contrast between a land inhabited, 
where it was to be obeyed, and " the wilderness," or " a 
land of separation," to which the live goat was to be 
sent away. The laws of marriage are confirmed by the 
sanction, — " That the land spue you not out, when ye 
defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before 
you," xviii. 28. In the nineteenth chapter the same 
feature is conspicuous in the ninth, tenth, nineteenth, 
twenty-third, twenty-ninth, and thirty-third verses, or 
from first to last. The same reference is found in 
XX. 1-4, 22-24, xxii. 10, 24, xxiii. 10-14, 17-20, 22, 39- 
43, xxiv, 5, 16, 22. It runs through the w^hole of the 
three last chapters, which evidently could apply only 
to the time when they were to be settled in the land. 
And if this induction were not enough to fix, of itself, 
the proper application of the whole series of laws, the 
Lawgiver himself defines their j)urpose. " Behold, I 
have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the 
Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in 
the land ivhither ye go to possess it'' Deut. iv. 5. 

It is plain, indeed, that when these laws were given, 
the prospect before the people was that of a speedy 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 171 

entrance, after one or two montlis' delay, into the pro- 
mised land ; and all the laws must have been understood 
to be given with reference to their new circumstances, 
as about to be settled in Canaan. When, however, their 
rebellion at Kadesh had brought on them the sentence of 
forty years' delay, till the first generation had perished, 
is any light thrown on the question, whether the 
Levitical laws were to be at once in force, or after that 
entrance ? The very first words after the account of 
their sin, and of the sentence of exclusion, are these : 
*' And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Speak unto 
the children of Israel, and say unto them. When ye he 
come into the land of your habitations, which I give 
unto you, and will make an offering by fire unto the 
Lord," etc., Num. xv. 1, 2. All the laws afterwards 
given bear upon their face the same distinct limitation 
to .the land of promise. And Moses himself afterwards 
defines the true purpose of the ceremonial ordinances 
that followed the Decalogue, even at the time they were 
given. *' And the Lord commanded me at that time to 
teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do 
them in the land whither ye go over to possess it." In 
I'eality, the very words of Amos, which have been 
strangely quoted to prove the intended observance of 
the whole Levitical system in the wilderness, were 
used long ago by St. Stephen, " full of the Holy 
Grhost," for a directly opposite purpose, to shew that 
the people, in that day of temptation, were left to their 
own devices, and the ceremonial system not yet en- 
forced. ** Then God turned, and gave them up to 
worship the host of heaven ; as it is written in the book 
of the prophets^ ye house of Israel, have ye offered 
to me slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wil- 
derness ? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, 
and the star of your god Eemphan, figures which ye 



172 THE EXODUS OP ISRAEL. 

made to worship them; and I will carry you away 
beyond Babylon," Acts vii. 42, 43. 

109. The objection proceeds as follows : " The single 
work of offering the double sacrifice for women after 
childbirth must have utterly overpowered three priests, 
though engaged without cessation from morning to 
night. The births among two millions of people may 
be reckoned as, at least, 250 a-day, for which 500 
sacrifices would have had to be offered daily. Looking 
at the directions, Lev. i., iv., we can scarcely allow less 
than five minutes for each sacrifice ; so that these alone, 
if offered separately, would have taken 2500 minutes, 
or 42 hours, and could not have been offered in a single 
day of 12 hours, though each of the three priests had 
been employed without rest or intermission." 

This objection is equally groundless in its principle, 
and in the separate details. In the first place, there is 
no proof that the law in question was even meant to be 
observed in the wilderness. Its purpose is defined by 
Moses himself, Deut. iv. 14 : " And the Lord com- 
manded me at that time statutes and judgments, that 
ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to 
possess it." In point of fact, it is plain that it was not 
observed. The sacrifice, after the birth of a son, was to 
be offered only when thirty-three days had passed 
since his circumcision. But we are expressly told, 
Josh. V. 5 : " All the people born in the wilderness by 
the way, as they came forth out of Egypt, they had 
not circumcised." It follows at once that the offering 
prescribed in the case of a male birth could not have 
been made, since the legal condition was never satis- 
fied, and the same principle must have applied to the 
female births. The objection rests, therefore, on an 
entire forge tfulness of the real terms of the law, and of 
the facts of the sacred history. 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 173 

Apart from this complete and decisive answer, the 
calculation is doubly erroneous. The births, as inferred 
from the history, would not be 250 daily, but almost 
exactly half that number. The six hundred thousand 
of the second census, and those who had died within 
the same limits of age, make up all the births for twenty 
years before and nineteen after the first census. By an 
ordinary ratio, the dead and the living would be nearly 
equal. But since that generation had a special pro- 
mise, as the elder one lay under a special curse, we 
may fairly assume that the mortality was only half that 
amount. This will make the births 126 daily, the exact 
interval being 39 years. Again, it is assumed that ^ve 
minutes were required for the priest's work in offering 
every bird. This confounds together the part really as- 
signed to him, and that of the offerer or the Levites. 
The priest, as in the other sacrifices, was clearly exempt 
from the menial part of the work. He was simply to 
wring off the head, and burn it on the altar ; and when 
the body had been duly prepared, to burn it in the same 
way. Half a minute would probably be sufficient, where 
many were offered ; and the whole time required be two 
hours daily, instead of forty-two, even if every Israelite 
mother had brought the offering. But since the rite 
of circumcision was wholly suspended in the wilderness, 
this was clearly impossible. 

110. The argument continues : " But where could 
they have obtained these 250 turtle doves or young 
pigeons daily, that is, 90,000 annually in the wilder- 
ness ? There might be two for each birth ; there must, 
according to the law, be one. How could they have 
had them at all under Sinai. It may be said that they 
were birds of the wilderness. Thus we read in Psa. 
Iv. 6, 7, '0 that I had wings hke a dove ! Lo then 
would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness/ 



174 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

So Jer. xlviii. 28 and Ez. vii. 16. Yet the Psalmist 
was hardly thinking of the great and dreadful desert of 
Sinai. He had probably in view the wilderness of 
Judah, or some other wide extent of uncultivated 
ground, and the doves might be found dwelling in the 
rocks or valleys of such a solitude. The desert of 
Sinai is also called a inidhar, as in Num. xx. 4, Deut. 
viii. 15, xxxii. 10 : Jer. ii. 6. But in each of the above 
passages some expression is added to show the terrific 
character of the Sinaite waste, as in Num. xx. 12. It 
can scarcely be believed that the ' young pigeons,' 
even if they could be found here at all, would have 
been so numerous, that they could be spoken of as 
common birds, within the reach of the poorest of the 
congregation, and be offered at the rate of 90,000 
a year." 

The difficulty, it has been shewn before, is wholly 
imaginary. We are expressly told that these stat- 
utes and judgments were given, Deut. iv. 14, v. 31, 
" that they might do them in the land whither they 
went to possess it ;" while this law, in particular, could 
not have been practised before, because the rite on 
which it depended was only renewed after the crossing 
of Jordan. Josh. v. 5. The number required is also 
exactly doubled, as before. But a further error is in- 
troduced, by confounding the wilderness of Zin or 
Paran, to which Num. xx. 4 refers, with the wilderness 
of Sinai. The former was the same wilderness where 
Ishmael dwelt, when he became an archer, Glen, xxi. 
20, 21, and where it must be probable that he found birds 
and other game, to shoot with his arrows. In reality 
Kadesh-barnea, where there seems to have been the 
longest stay, was near the south border of Palestine, and 
the west of Edom, and was probably not more than 
thirty miles from Petra, its rocky capital. The words 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 175 

applied to the dove, Cant. ii. 14, '^ that art in the clefts 
of the rocks" are the very same which are used to 
describe the land of Edom, " Thy pride of thine heart 
hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the 
rock, whose habitation is on high." It must therefore 
be probable that some of the peculiar and favourite haunts 
of these birds were within twenty miles of the skirts of 
the camp, during a long part of their sojourn ; and it 
would be strange indeed if, under these circumstances, 
they could neither be captured nor cheaply purchased. 
The objection is from first to last a tissue of errors. 

111. But it is objected, further, that " it cannot be 
said that the laws which require the sacrifice of such 
birds were intended only for such a later time, when the 
people should be finally settled in the land of Canaan." 
The proof offered is Lev. xiv. 8, 10, where the priest 
is charged to go out of the camp, to inspect the leper 
before his cleansing, and the leper to abide out of his 
tent seven days, and still the alternative is proposed, 
if he be poor, of two turtle doves or young pigeons, 
instead of two lambs. Hence it is inferred that these 
birds are supposed to be in abundance under Sinai. 
" It would seem to follow," it is said, '^ that such a law 
could not have been written by Moses, but must have 
been composed at a later age, when the people were 
already settled in Canaan, and the poor could easily 
provide themselves with pigeons. In the desert it 
would have been equally impossible for rich or poor to 
procure them." 

The law for the offering of the leper, whenever he was 
cleansed, must have been designed chiejiy for the land of 
promise, since we find it still in force in the Gospels 
after fifteen hundred years. To this whole period the 
gracious provision for lessening the burden to the poor 
would fully apply. The exclusion of the lepers from 



176 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

tlie camp took place, however, in the wilderness, by 
a separate command of God, Nmn. v. 1-4, and was 
thus an exception to the general rule. But the only 
case of cleansing on record in the wilderness is that of 
Miriam, to whom the provision for the poor would 
certainly not belong. The objection, then, resolves 
itself into the following shape. It is possible, though 
we have no proof of it, that a few poor lepers might be 
healed during the forty years in the desert, and have 
to provide an offering. It is possible, though the 
greater part of the time was spent within twenty or 
thirty miles of some of the rocks of Edom, the favour- 
ite haunts of these birds, that loved the rock, the hole's 
mouth, and the desert, that so few were caught, or could 
be purchased, as to make them as costly as lambs. In 
the case of this highly improbable possibility, it is 
possible that a few poor persons, when healed of leprosy, 
might have had to present a more costly sign of their gra- 
titude in the wilderness, than would usually be needful 
in later years. An option, graciously provided for the 
relief of the poor through successive ages, may have 
been delayed a few years before it took effect, in the 
case of half a dozen lepers, who may possibly have been 
healed in some part of the journey, where no wandering 
dove ever came within sight of the camp of Israel. On 
the strength of such a chain of reasoning, where every 
link is equally feeble, a charge is virtually made against 
our blessed Lord, of uttering a direct falsehood, when 
he said to the leper He had cleansed by the touch of his 
Divine finger, " Go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, 
and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testi- 
mony unto them." May His prayer avail for those 
who have been betrayed into a sin so grievous, and 
so near akin to direct blasphemy — " Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do." 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS, 177 

112. A further objection is based on Num. xviii. 
9-11, 14-18, Levit. vii., where various commands are 
given about the provision for the priests. The last 
mentioned directions " are given in the story before 
Aaron and his sons were consecrated, and must there- 
fore be meant to apply, it is thought, while the camp 
is in the wilderness. But what an enormous provision 
was this for Aaron and his two sons and their families. 
The very pigeons brought as sin offerings for the birth 
of children, would have averaged, according to the 
story, 264 a day, and each priest have to eat daily 88 
for his own portion in the most holy place 1" 

Here, again, the objection urged in so irreverent a 
tone is a strange tissue of errors. First, the instructions 
in Num. xviii., have been prefaced. Num. xv. 1-4, with 
this explicit note of time, applying severally to the 
future sacrifices, " When ye be come into the land of 
your habitations, which I give unto you ;" and include 
the charge, " All the best of the oil, and all the best of 
the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which 
they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee, 
. . . and whatsoever is first ripe in the landT Num. xviii. 
12, 13. The " enormous provision" consisted of 
certain portions of the sacrifices of the people, at a 
time when God declares solemnly by the prophet Amos 
that the people had not offered them ; and the young 
pigeons, said to be 264 daily, when the daily births were 
only 120, were those of mothers purified after circum- 
cising their children, when " according to the story " 
none of the children were circumcised. 

113. The authority of Hengstenberg is claimed in 
favour of this argument. Speaking of the days of 
Samuel, he observes : " Since all Israel at that time 
offered their sacrifices at the sanctuary in Shiloh, how 
was it possible for two or three priests to perform tho 

N 



178 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

requisite service ?" He does not appear, it is said, to 
see how strongly his own argument bears against the 
historical veracity of the Pentateuch itself. This 
charge would be just, if Hengstenberg shared the error 
on which the objection rests, and believed, in direct 
opposition to the word of Grod by the prophets Amos 
and Ezekiel, that the Israelites in general offered " slain 
beasts and sacrifices " to Jehovah throughout the long 
day of provocation in the wilderness. But Hengstenberg 
strongly maintains the exact reverse (Hengst. Pent. ii. p. 
13-16), and insists powerfully that the signs of the cove- 
nant were suspended during the thirty-eight years which 
followed the sentence and oath of Grod. It is inexcusable 
rashness to make a writer chargeable with the conse- 
quences of a great error, which he has expressly rejected 
and disowned. 

114. The last objection is from the appointment of 
thirteen cities for the sons of Aaron in the allotment of 
the land. The idea seems to be entertained that 
Phinehas may ahnost have been the only one of the 
family, because he alone is named in that generation. 
By this argument, from the silence of Scripture, strange 
things indeed might clearly be proved. The remark of 
Scott, which is marked for contempt with a double note 
of admiration, is sensible and true. " The family of 
Aaron could not at this time have been very numerous, 
though it had increased considerably since his appoint- 
ment to the priesthood. Yet thirteen cities were 
allotted to it in the Divine knowledge of its future 
enlargement ; for we have reason to think that no 
other family increased so much in proportion after 
Israel's departure from Egypt as that of Aaron." It is 
said that the only conceivable reason for so thinking is 
the fact that thirteen cities were assigned them. But 
this is plainly untrue. We have mention, in the time 



THE PRIESTS IN THE WILDERNESS. 179 

of David, of " Jehoiada the leader of the Aaronites, 
and with him three thousand seven hundred ;" and of 
Zadok '^ a young man, mighty in valour, and of his 
father's house twenty and two captains." 1 Chron. 
xii. 27, 28. Again, in the days of Saul eighty-five 
priests were slain in one of the smaller of the thirteen 
cities_, with " both men and women, children and suck- 
lings." It is plain, also, that Aaron and his sons, 
holding the foremost places of honour, must have pro- 
bably had numerous households. It is true that the 
former passage is "in the record of the Chronicler ;" 
but few Christians will recognise the force or the re- 
verence of a style of argument, which assumes one 
book of Scripture to be false^ in order to convict all the 
others of equal falsehood. 



N 2. 



180 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL, 



CHAPTER XY. 

THE PASSOVER IN THE WILDERNESS. 

115. The first celebration of the Passover after the 
Exodus is described in these words : — 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness 
of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after 
they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let 
the children of Israel also keep the Passover at the 
appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, 
at even, ye shall keep it in its appointed season : ac- 
cording to all the rites of it, and according to all the 
ceremonies of it, shall ye keep it. 

" And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that 
they should keep the Passover. And they kept the 
Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at 
even in the wilderness of Sinai : according to all that 
the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of 
Israel. 

*' And there were certain men, who were defiled by 
the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the 
Passover on that day ; and they came before Moses and 
before Aaron on that day : and those men said unto 
him. We are defiled by the dead body of a man : where- 
fore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering 
of the Lord in its appointed season among the children 
of Israel ? And Moses said, Stand still, and I will 
hear what the Lord will command concerning you. 



THE PASSOVER IN THE WILDERNESS. 181 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak 
unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you 
or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a 
dead body, or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall 
keep the Passover unto the Lord. The fourteenth day of 
the second month, at even, they shall keep it, and eat 
it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall 
leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone 
of it : according to all the ordinances of the passover 
they shall keep it. But the man that is clean, and is 
not on a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, 
even the same soul shall be cut off from among his 
people : because he brought not the offering of the 
Lord in its appointed season, that man shall bear his 
sin." Num. ix. 1-13. 

This provision, for the sake of those who were un- 
clean, of a second passover in the second month, became 
the guide and warrant of the celebration in the days of 
Hezekiah, one of the most striking and public events 
in the later history of the Jewish people. " And Heze- 
kiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also 
to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to 
the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover 
unto the Lord God of Israel. For the king had taken 
counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in 
Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month. 
For they could not keep it at that time, because the 
priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither 
had the people gathered themselves together to Jeru- 
salem. . . . And there assembled at Jerusalem much 
people, to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the 
second monili^ a very great congregation." 2 Chron. xxx. 
1-3, 13. 

116. The narrative in Numbers, being so simple and 
natural in itself, and confirmed by such a signal testi- 



1^2 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

mony of its truth and Divine authority, in forming the 
key-note and guide of a most pubHc act of national 
repentance and reformation, might have seemed secure 
from sceptical assault of any kind. Such, however, is 
not the case. The lynx-like sagacity of one modern 
critic has discovered " the utter impossibility " of this 
" story in the Pentateuch." Hezekiah, Josiah, and the 
priests and Levites of their days, are all compelled to do 
service in the cause of unbelief, and by their own acts 
to convict themselves of stupidity, folly, and profane- 
ness, in accepting and honouring a clumsy forgery as 
" the law of Moses, the man of God." 

The process of the argument is very curious, and 
seems like a masterpiece of sceptical ingenuity. 
The priests, in the passovers both of Hezekiah and 
Josiah, seem, from the account, to have sprinkled the 
blood of the paschal offerings, which they received 
from the Levites, on the altar in the court of the 
Temple. Since their aim was to **keep the Passover 
as it was written," some law, prescribing this rite or 
mode of offering, must occur in the Pentateuch, which 
was manifestly their guide. In the second Passover, 
therefore, which was kept according to all the ordi- 
nances, the history must imply that all the lambs were 
slain within the court of the Tabernacle, and their blood 
sprinkled on the altar. But Josephus mentions ten as 
the lowest, and twenty as a frequent number, of a pas- 
chal company. Therefore two millions of people would 
need 150,000 lambs. But Aaron and his two sons 
could never sprinkle the blood of so many lambs on the 
altar within two hours, nor could 150,000 persons have 
found room in the court to slay them, since it held, at 
the most, 5000 persons. Hence, finally, the conclusion is 
drawn, that the law, whichever it may be, that prescribed 
this rite at the Passover, required what was impossible ; 



THE PASSOVER IN THE WILDERNESS. 183 

that the history which represents the Passover as duly 
kept, repeats the same impossibihty ; that Hezekiah 
and his people obeyed zealously a law which God had 
never given, and copied a precedent which had never 
occurred ; and that a forgery which has misled the church 
for ages, and deceived the incarnate Son of God himself, 
has been finally detected by this original argument, and 
its utter impossibility reduced to mathematical demon- 
stration. 

117. The difficulty of answering such an objection 
arises from its utter unreasonableness, from the entire 
absence of details in the narrative on which sceptical 
doubts can fasten, and from the number of unproved 
guesses and assumptions of which it is composed. Na- 
tural questions with regard to the exact detail of the 
service, which Dr. Kurtz has discussed at some length, 
are thus perverted into reluctant admissions of some 
grave perplexity, fatal to the truth of the whole state- 
ment in the sacred text. No inversion of the rules of 
sound reasoning could be more complete. The sim- 
plicity of the record, which leaves many particulars 
unrevealed, shews the absolute folly of an argument 
which creates inflexible and absolute laws from the 
practice in the Temple eight hundred years later ; and 
then makes the difficulty of observing them in the wil- 
derness a proof that the whole account is a mere legend. 
Let us examine, one by one, the main steps in this 
process of reasoning. 

First, does the narrative itself affirm that a hundred 
and fifty thousand lambs, within two hours, were slain 
within the court of the Tabernacle, and their blood 
sprinkled, by three priests alone, upon the altar ? The 
reply is very simple. Not a word of this kind occurs. 
Several rites are specified ; the time, in the evening ; 
the date, the fourteenth of the month ; the unleavened 



184 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

bread and bitter herbs ; and that no bone of it was to 
be broken. But there is no allusion to the number of 
the victims, or to the sprinkling of the blood on the 
altar. The passage is charged with forgery and false- 
hood for containing or implying statements, of which 
there is not a single word from first to last. 

118. Secondly, does any previous law in the Penta- 
teuch make it plain that the sprinkling of the blood of 
each lamb by a priest was an essential part of the ser- 
vice ? The answer is almost equally plain. First, in 
the origmal Passover no such rite occurred, or could 
occur ; for the altar was not made, nor the Levitical 
priesthood in being. Secondly, no allusion to it is found 
in Exod. xii. 43-50, and Exod. xiii. 3-10, where two 
supplementary Passover laws are given. Thirdly, the 
precept, Exod. xxiii. 17, 18, which forbids the offering 
of the blood of the Lord's sacrifice with leavened bread, 
may probably refer to the Passover, but contains no 
instruction when, where, or how the blood should be 
offered, and simply requires that no leavened bread 
should attend it. The fifth passage, Exod. xxxiv. 25, 
merely repeats the same command. 

The chief reliance, then, has to be placed on the 
laws for the burnt, sin, and meat offerings in Leviticus ; 
and on the further prohibition, in Lev. xvii. 1-6, that 
any ox, lamb, or goat should be slain, without its blood 
being sprinkled on the altar. But the laws of burnt- 
offering and peace-offering, to one or other of which 
the Passover must be referred, plainly speak of volun- 
tary and individual sacrifices. They can only apply to 
the Passover, an ordinance already given, and of which 
the laws were previously appointed, by analogy and 
general inference. 

The same remark applies to Lev. xvii. 1-6, which has 
more appearance of being meant to include the Pass- 



THE PASSOVER IN THE WILDERNESS. 185 

over sacrifices. Its purpose is expressly given ; " That the 
children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they 
offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto 
the Lord. . . . And they shall no more offer their sacrifices 
to devils, after whom they have gone a whoring." This 
reason could not apply to the Passover, which occurred 
only once a year, and was essentially a memorial feast 
to the Lord. 

Still further, there is room to doubt whether this law 
were already given when the second Passover occurred. 
The tabernacle was reared on the first day of the first 
month, and this was followed by the consecration of 
Aaron and his sons^ lasting seven days. Seven other 
distinct series of laws follow before Lev. xvii. was 
given. But the preparations for the second Passover 
must have begun only three days after the close of 
Aaron's consecration, and there was a whole fortnight 
after that Passover, -before the first day of the second 
month, when the laws in Leviticus were finished, and 
the numbering of the people occurred. 

119. Thirdly, does the practice in the time of Heze- 
kiah and Josiah make it certain that the Pentateuch 
itself, rightly explained, made it imperative for the 
blood of every passover lamb to be sprinkled by the 
priests on the altar ? Were the kings, priests, and 
people infallible in their construction of one obscure 
detail of the Mosaic law, and yet wholly and absolutely 
mistaken in believing it to be " the law of Moses, the 
man of God," of Divine obligation and supreme au- 
thority ? Such reasoning is most ridiculous. Hov/ 
could those who blindly mistook a clumsy forgery for 
the words of the living God, be infallible guides to the 
proper meaning of every clause and sentence it con- 
tains ? Their faith in the Pentateuch might rest on 
the firmest evidence, and still they might err by excess 



186 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

in interpreting one of its ceremonial ordinances ; but if 
tlieir faith was vain, and the law of Moses a forgery, it 
must be absurd to take their practice for an infallible 
guide to its true meaning. 

Again, does the account in Chronicles make it plain 
that, in the judgment of Hezekiah and Josiah, the law 
of Moses itself required the sprinkling of the blood of 
each paschal lamb upon the altar ? Even this cannot 
be proved. The argument is stated in these words : 
" In the time of Hezekiah and Josiah, when it was 
desired to keep the Passover in such sort as it was 
written, 2 Chron. xxx. 5, the lambs were manifestly 
killed in the court of the Temple. We must suppose, 
then, that the Paschal lambs in the wilderness were 
killed in the court of the tabernacle." Does, then, the 
remark in Chronicles refer to this particular rite ? Far 
from it ; the words are these : " So they established a 
decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from 
Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep 
the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem ; 
for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it 
was written." The plain meaning is that, since the sin of 
Jeroboam, there had been no common gathering of all 
the tribes to the place where Grod had set his name, 
although this was a fundamental part of the law of 
Moses. The words prove clearly how long the law 
had been received and reverenced as Divine, and are 
thus fatal to the whole objection ; but do not refer in the 
least to the mode in which the lambs were slain, or 
their blood sprinkled on the altar. In the details, we 
are expressly told that many '* kept the Passover other- 
wise than it was written," and Hezekiah prayed for 
their forgiveness on this very ground. 

StiU further, if they believed that they were keeping 
the Passover '' as it was written " in this especial rite 



THE PASSOVER IN THE WILDERNESS. 187 

and mode of celebration, does this prove that it was an 
essential part of the Mosaic law ? The argument fails 
once more, for a plain reason. We read of Hezekiah, 
2 Chron. xxix. 25 : " He set the Levites in the house 
of Grod with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, 
according to the commandment of David, and of Grad, the 
king's seer, and Nathan the prophet : for so was the 
commandment of the Lord by his prophets." And 
again Josiah said to the Levites, 2 Chron. xxxv. 4 : 
'' Prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, 
after your courses, according to the writing of David, 
king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon 
his son." Thus written instructions had been given, 
since the time of Moses, by David, Gad, Nathan, and 
Solomon, all of Divine authority, and appointing cer- 
tain details of the Temple worship. It is quite conceiv- 
able that a rite, which was simpJy optional under the 
law, or while the Tabernacle worship lasted, might be 
rendered binding on every worshipper, when the size of 
the Temple courts removed all practical difficulty from 
its general observance. 

120. Fourthly, assuming that the law of Moses did 
require the blood of the paschal lamb to be sprinkled 
by the priests on the altar, would this make it neces- 
sary for them to be all slain within the court of the 
Tabernacle ? This is assumed without proof, and against 
reason. " How," it is asked, " could the priests have 
sprinkled the blood at all, if this were not the case ?" 
In the easiest way possible. It might be collected in 
basons, just as when the Sinaitic covenant was ratified 
(Ex. xxiv. 6), and these be conveyed by the Levites, of 
whom there were more than eight thousand, to Aaron 
and his sons within the court. The lambs might all be 
brought near to the door of the Tabernacle, to be slain 
in the open space to the east, and still the law in Lev. 



188 . THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

xvii., if it applied to tlie Passover also, be literally ful- 
filled. How can it be proved that the design of the 
law was for all the lambs to be slain within the narrow 
space of the court of the Tabernacle, when it contains 
no single word on the subject ; and there was no 
trace of such a restriction in the first celebration in 
Egypt ? 

121. Fifthly, can it be proved from the words of 
Josephus, fifteen centuries later, that 150,000 lambs 
would be needed for the Passover in the wilderness ? 
To say nothing of the difference of circumstances and 
distance of time, his words assign a minimum^ and no 
maximum^ for the paschal company. " A kind of 
brotherhood is formed for each sacrifice, of not less than 
ten men, for it is not allowed to feast alone, and many 
are grouped even with twenty." Thus, because Jose- 
phus names ten men as a minimmn at Jerusalem, 1500 
years later, when priests and lambs were both in abun- 
dance, an average of four men, with eight or nine 
women and children, is assumed for the desert, on pur- 
pose to create an " impossibility," when the flocks were 
perhaps nearly exhausted, and the priests three only 
in number. What a sandy foundation for a pyramid of 
unbelief ! 

If the law in Lev. xvii. 1-6 was really published 
before the Passover in the wilderness, and was intended 
to apply to it, then the size of the companies, which was 
optional, would naturally be modified by the new con- 
dition introduced for the first time into the service. 
Even from the words of Josephus we might reasonably 
conclude that they would average twenty at least, re- 
quiring only 90,000 lambs for the whole congregation. 
But there is no need to suppose the number so large. 
The limit assigned by Jewish tradition is^ that " each 
in the company might be able to have so much for his 



THE PASSOVER IN TPIE WILDERNESS. 189 

share as would equal the size of an olive berry " (Maim. 
Tract, ii. § 14). By this rule, and no other is given in 
the law, one hundred at least, and possibly two or three 
hundred, might form one company. Assuming, which 
we are quite at liberty to do, the former limit, the 
lambs required would be 18,000 only ; and the blood of 
a hundred lambs would have to be sprinkled each 
minute for the space of three hours, or from three, p.m. 
till sunset, the limit apparently assigned for the actual 
sacrifice. 

122. Lastly, the objection admits a further reply 
from the words of our Lord himself, in which he refutes 
a kindred cavil of the Pharisees. " Have ye not read 
in the law, how that the priests in the Temple profane 
the Sabbath, and are blameless ?" We are here taught, 
not only from reason and common sense, but from a 
case under the law of Moses, that when two commands, 
taken in the letter, interfere, the less important must of 
course give way to the other. The sacrifice of the 
Passover, in its appointed season, is the most express, 
solemn, and oft- repeated ordinance of the Law. It is the 
era of the nation's birth, and the foundation of the whole 
Sinaitic covenant. The instruction that the blood of 
every lamb should be sprinkled by the priest on the 
altar, if really contained at all in the law of Moses, is 
an accessary plainly absent from the first celebration, 
secondary in its character, and indirect and obscure 
in its obligation. Hence, if zealous obedience to the 
Divine law by the whole people made the court too 
narrow for the sacrifices to be brought into it, and the 
blood of each could not be actually sprinkled by Aaron 
and his sons within the hours prescribed, the result is 
very simple. The purpose of the Lawgiver would be 
satisfied, though part of the lambs were slain, as in 
Egypt, near their respective tents, or else in the space 



190 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

in front of the Tabernacle, and the sprinkling of the 
blood of the victims offered by the heads of the families, 
was taken, by representation, for the fulfilment of the 
rite in other cases, where its literal fulfilment was not 
practicable. The attempt, where the word of God is 
wholly silent, to interpolate a rigid and inexorable rule 
of sacrifice from the practice a thousand years later, in 
order to prove the statement in Numbers a direct 
falsehood, and the law itself impracticable and ab- 
surd, is an outrage on all common sense, and a fear- 
ful insult to the majesty of the Holy Lawgiver of 
Israel. 

To conclude, there is no proof that the practice 
under Hezekiah and Josiah was derived from the law 
itself, and not from some later writing of David, Gad, 
Nathan, or Solomon, concerning modifications caused 
by the change from the Tabernacle to the Temple. 
There is no proof that the law in Leviticus, which could 
be at most only seven days old, was already published. 
There is no proof that, if published, it was designed to 
include the paschal offerings. There is no proof that it 
could not be literally obeyed by a simple enlargement 
of the companies. And there is an absolute certainty, 
from the words of our Lord himself, that if space within 
the court, or the time of the priests, were wholly occu- 
pied by other worshippers, the other Israelites might 
still sacrifice the passover near their tents, as they had 
done before in Egypt, and be held, like the priests who 
profaned the Sabbath in their Temple services, wholly 
guiltless of blame in the sight of God. 



THE EVENTS OF THE FORTIETH YEAR. 191 



CHAPTER XYI. 

THE EVENTS OF THE FORTIETH YEAR. 

123. "We pass on from the Passover, in the second 
year of the Exodus, to the history of the fortieth and 
last year, and meet a new objection, in connection with 
the sin of Baal-Peor and the war on the Midianites ; a 
sort of moral counterpart, in the array of sceptical 
cavils, to the last remains of the unbelieving genera- 
tion, who were then destroyed by pestilence in the 
righteous judgment of God. The objection, coarsely 
brought against the narrative on grounds of alleged 
immorality belongs, to a distinct class, and requires 
separate treatment. No doubt the God of Israel, 
before whom the seraphim veil their faces while they 
worship, has much to learn from the sentimental 
moralists of our enlightened age how he ought to deal 
with hardened transgressors in every province of his 
vast dominion. The problem, however, is rather 
harder and deeper than some sciolists imagine ; and 
even our own statesmen and reformers seem not to 
have solved it hitherto to their entire satisfaction. Dis- 
missing this question, then, for the present, we have to 
encounter a fresh charge against the Pentateuch, that 
the narrative of the last year is unhistorical here, as 
elsewhere ; or in other words, that the books of Exodus 
and Numbers are consistent, from first to last, in their 
utter falsehood. 

This conclusion is reached in the following way :— 



192 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

Aaron died on the first day of the fifth month, and 
they mourned for him a month. After this Arad the 
Canaanite fought against them, and took some priso- 
ners, upon which he was attacked and destroyed. For 
this we may allow another month. Next, they jour- 
neyed from Mount Hor to compass the land of Edom, 
till the serpent of brass was set up ; and for this we 
must allow at least a fortnight. They then marched, 
and made nine encampments, for which " we cannot well 
allow less than a month. Then they sent messengers 
to Sihon, smote him, and took all his cities, for which 
we may allow another month. Moses after that sent 
to spy out Jaazer, and took the villages, and drove out 
the Amorites, say, in another fortnight. Then they 
turned up by the way of Bashan, and smote Og and 
all his people, for which we must allow at least a 
month. This makes six months ; and, indeed, even 
then the events will have been crowded upon one 
another in a most astonishing and really impossible 
manner. It brings us to the first day of the eleventh 
month, when Moses is said to have addressed the 
people in the plains of Moab. And now, what room is 
there for the other events — the march to the plains of 
Moab, Balak's sending twice to Balaam, his journey 
and prophesyings ; Israel's abiding in Shittim, the 
death of 24,000 by the plague, the second numbering 
of the people, and the war upon Midian ?" In this brief 
and easy manner the truth of eighteen or twenty chap- 
ters of Numbers and Deuteronomy is thrown to the 
winds, and our blessed Lord is condemned of giving his 
sanction to a forgery in that weighty message of love : 
" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
so MUST the Son of Man be lifted up : that whosoever 
belie veth in him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." This lying narrative, in the eyes of modern 



THE EVENTS OF THE FORTIETH YEAE. 193 

scepticism, must be fulfilled according to the True and 
Faithful Witness, even when it secretly announces the 
shame and agony of the Son of God himself ; and " till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not 
pass" from this medley of legend and impossible history 
"till all be fulfilled." How wide the gulf of thought, in 
their view of the law of Moses, between some who 
wear the name of disciples, and their Master who is 
in heaven ! 

124. Let us now examine the history with a little 
more attention to the laws of probability, and see 
whether the objection will not yield fresh evidence of 
the consistency and truth of the whole narrative. 

The two fixed limits of this part of the history are 
the death of Aaron, on the first day of the fifth month, 
Num. xxxiii. 38, and the second giving of the law by 
Moses in the plains of Moab, exactly six months later, 
or on the first day of the eleventh month. Deut. i. 3. 
Between these limits we have to place the mourning 
for Aaron, the overthrow of Arad, the journey round 
Edom to Zered and Arnon, the conquest of Sihon and 
Og, of Gilead and Bashan, the prophecies of Balaam, 
the sin of Baal-Peor, and the conquest of Midian. 

The general outline by which the history is to be 
disproved, consists of seven periods of time, of which 
all but one are wholly conjectural ; a month of mourn- 
ing for Aaron, a month for the conquest of Hormah, a 
fortnight for the first part of their journey, a month 
for nine encampments, a month for the conquest of 
Heshbon, a fortnight for Jaazer, and a month for 
Bashan. This fills up the time till the giving of the 
law, and thus leaves no space for the journeys of Balak's 
messenger and of Balaam, the removal to Shittiro., the 
sin of Baal-Peor, and the destruction of Midian, 

But here, fortunately, the word of God supplies a 



194 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

further test, indirectly given, by wliich to try the 
accuracy of the proposed estimates. For on this view 
it is plain that the campaign against Arad would occupy 
the sixth month ; the serpent of brass be set up in the 
middle of the seventh month ; and the fourth station 
at the valley of Zered be reached twelve or fifteen days 
later, that is, just at the close of the seventh, or 
beginning of the eighth month. This will answer 
nearly to the last week of October, or a full week after 
the close of " the feast of ingathering at the year's 
end." 

Let us now turn to Deut. ii. 14, and we find that 
Moses gives us this note of time. " And the space in 
which we came from Kadesh-Barnea, until we were 
come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years ; 
until all the generation of the men of war were wasted 
out from among the host, as the Lord sware imto 
them." This period is evidently reckoned from the 
sentence of God after the return of the spies, when 
the years of doom and judgment began. But when 
the spies were sent out, " the time was the time of the 
first ripe grapes," and " they returned after forty days." 
Now " Breydenback ate fully ripe grapes, at Jaffa, about 
the beginning of July, and Kurtz informs us that this 
occurs in many parts of Palestine." (Kitto, Pict. Hist. 
ii. p. 287.) In August "grapes continue to be gathered 
for the table." (Kitto, Pict. H. ii. p. 310.) The spies, 
then, could hardly have set out later than Aug. 21, so 
as to return, after forty days, by the close of September, 
before the vintage was complete, or the time come for 
the feast of ingathering in the middle of Tisri, the 
seventh Jewish month. But the brook Zered was 
crossed, according to Moses, thirty-eight years after 
their return. There seems no reason, in the passage in 
Deut. ii. where a series of stations are named, why the 



THE EVENTS OF THE FORTIETH YEAR. 195 

note of time should be joined with the passage of the 
brook, unless the same time of the year were come. 
The removal, then, in Num. xxi. 13, was near the end 
of September, that is, at least four weeks earlier than it 
is placed in " The Pentateuch Examined." The earlier 
events are spread over a longer time than the text 
itself allows them to occupy, that the last events may 
be thrust out entirely, and a charge of falsehood be 
made against the whole narrative. 

125. Let us now review this earlier portion, and the 
source of the error will be apparent. The death of 
Aaron is fixed by Num. xxxiii. 38 to " the first day of 
the fifth month," and the mourning at Mount Hor, 
before moving further southward, lasted thirty days. 
But the text does not say, as the comment does, that 
" after this " Arad the Canaanite fought against Israel. 
It implies just the reverse. It was when " he heard 
tell that Israel came by the way of the spies," that 
" he fought against Israel, and took some of them 
prisoners." This report clearly would not be when 
Israel returned southward to Mount Hor, but when 
they reached Kadesh, the most northerly point of their 
advance. The attack of Arad, then, must probably 
have been either before the death of Aaron, or when 
the mourning had just begun. The vengeance, it is 
plain, would not be long delayed. The general mourn- 
ing would be no sufficient hindrance to an expedition 
for this special purpose ; and since the district was 
small, and lay within one or two day's journey, and 
there was no design of permanent occupation, one week, 
during the later part of the days of mourning, would 
suffice for its completion. The journey, then, by the 
way of the Eed Sea, to compass the land of Edom, 
would naturally begin as soon as the mourning was 
ended, since their march southward had begun even 

o2 



196 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

before. They continued their course, with no sign of 
any delay, till they reached Oboth, Ije-Abarim, and the 
valley of Zered, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. 
The whole distance of this circuit is about 240 or 250 
miles ; and it might, one would think, be completed 
within a month, without any risk of the events " being 
crowded one upon another in a most astonishing, and 
really impossible manner." In this case they would 
" cross over the brook Zered " by the close of the sixth 
Jewish month, or somewhere about Sept. 21, corre- 
sponding, it may be ev^n exactly, with the return of the 
spies just thirty-eight years before. For since grapes 
are gathered in parts of Palestine even in July, the 
twelfth of August is a probable approach to '* the time 
of the first ripe grapes." And thus we may infer, from 
the agreement of all the statements in the text, that the 
circuit of Edom was completed, and the other side of 
Arnon reached, by the close of the sixth Jewish 
month, or near the close of September, when the second 
half of the sacred year began. 

126. The proposed intervals of the second period, in 
" The Pentateuch Examined," are fifteen days for five 
later encampments, a month for the conquest of Sihon, 
a fortnight for that of Jaazer, and a month for that of 
Bashan ; thus leaving no space for the message to 
Balaam and his journey, for the abode in Shittim, the sin 
of Baal-Peor, and the destruction of Midian. With the 
true Mosaic date for the crossing of the brook Zered, an 
interval of one month is left for these events, before 
the repetition of the law on the first day of the 
eleventh month. This seems plainly too small ; but 
the sources of the defect become very clear on closer 
examination. 

And first, it is assumed that the conflict with Sihon, 
and the conquest of his kingdom, began after the ninth 



THE EVENTS OF THE FORTIETH YEAR. 197 

encampment near Pisgali was reached, and occupied a 
whole month in addition. This is a strange neglect 
of geography and common sense. The conflict with 
Sihon, as plain reason proves, and the words of 
Moses expressly teach us in both places. Num. xxi. 23, 
Deut. ii. 24, 26, took place at the wilderness station 
after crossing Arnon, or before Mattanah. It was not 
delayed till they had marched through his land to 
Pisgah, near to Jordan. Thus another fortnight, in 
which the events are " crowded in so impossible a 
manner " as to make Israel march for ten days through 
the land of Sihon, before the month of conquest 
began, disappears at once from the reckoning. The 
interval for the conquest itself seems reasonable. It 
would thus be completed by the close of Tisri, or the 
end of October. 

Another fortnight is next allowed for the conquest 
of Jaazer, mentioned in Num. xxi. 32 in these words, 
'' And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the 
villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were 
there." But Jaazer and its villages lay in the heart of 
the kingdom of Sihon. This incident was merely one 
step in the conquest of that kingdom, singled out 
for notice for some reason now unknown ; or perhaps, 
as a connecting link with the conquest of Gilead 
and Bashan. A second month, which is enough for 
this second conquest, will bring us to the close of the 
eighth Jewish month, or perhaps a little later, to the 
close of November, leaving about two full months for the 
remaining events, before the opening date of the Book 
of Deuteronomy. 

127. The supposed difficulty, from the time required 
by the rest of the narrative, has been amplified in these 
words. 

" And now what room is there for the other events, 



198 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

which are recorded in the Book of Numbers, as having 
occurred between the conquest of Bashan and the 
address of Moses ? (1) The march forward to the plains 
of Moab. (2) Balak's sending twice to Balaam, his 
journey and prophesyings. (3) Israel's abiding in 
Shittim, and committing whoredom with the daughters 
of Moab. (4) The death of 24,000 by the plague. 
(5) The second numbering of the people ; and (6) the 
war on Midian, during which they burnt all their 
cities, and surely must have required a month or six 
weeks for such a transaction." 

It has been shewn already that, when some palpable 
errors have been retrenched, a space of two clear 
months will remain for these last events. Let us now 
inquire whether there is any historical difficulty in their 
distribution. 

The first event is the march forward to the plains of 
Moab. In reality, this is the return from the ex- 
pedition northward against Gilead and Bashan, and a 
choice of the final headquarters, until the time for the 
crossing of Jordan. No se|)arate time is required, 
since the camp in general might remove to this place, 
while the children of Jair and Machir were completing 
their conquest of the walled and unwalled towns of 
Bashan. 

The two messages to Balaam, and his journey, come 
next in order. And the question arises — When did 
Balak's alarm begin, and when may we suppose the 
first messengers to have departed ? The motive was 
the fear of Israel's numbers and strength, confirmed by 
their victories over the Amorites. But this would begin 
as soon as they crossed the borders of Moab, and would 
rise to its height, when Sihon was completely overthrown, 
and his kingdom, the late possession of the Moabites, 
began to be occupied. The first message, then, would 



THE EVENTS OF THE FORTIETH YEAR. 199 

be likely to be sent to Balaam, while the first campaign 
against Sihon and his people was going on. The 
distance of Pethor, the home of Balaam, in the moun- 
tains of Aram beyond the river, is not exactly known, 
but must have been from four to ^ve hundred miles ; 
and, since speed would be an object with the messen- 
gers, from ten to fourteen days is a reasonable time to 
allow for the journey in each direction. If the first 
messengers set out in the middle of the seventh month, 
then, allowing thirteen days for each journey, or fifty- 
two days* for the whole, Balaam would reach the land of 
Moab a week after the conquest of Bashan was finished, 
when the camp was pitched in the plains of Moab, under 
the springs of Pisgah. A week is an ample time for 
his successive prophesy ings, which would close in the 
middle of the ninth month, answering nearly to Decem- 
ber. We may then allow a fortnight for the further 
abode in Shittim, and the sin of Peor, ending with the 
plague ; a week for the numbering of the people, and the 
publication of the laws, Num. xvii.-xxx., and a fortnight 
for the campaign against Midian. The census would 
answer to the first week of January, and the conquest 
of Midian occupy the middle of the month, leaving a 
week for the supplemental ordinances in Numbers, 
before the solemn republication of the whole law, 
which began on the first day of the eleventh month. 
That the expedition against Midian would require only 
a short time is clear from the small number of warriors 
whom it was thought necessary to employ; and the 
cities and goodly castles that were burnt must probably 
have been very few, since the whole people amounted 
only to about a hundred and twenty thoiisand of both 
sexes and every age. 

128. The proof of falsehood, then, in this portion of 
the Pentateuch, is obtained by conabining the following 



200 THE EXODUS OF ISBAEL. 

premises. First, it is assumed tliat tlie Canaanite king 
assailed the Israelites, not wlien they were come nearest 
to his border, but when they had returned from it ; that 
the people were so absorbed in their grief for the death 
of Aaron, as to wait a whole month without any attempt 
at reprisals, and then occupied another month in send- 
ing an expedition some forty or fifty miles, to destroy a 
few towns, which they abandoned immediately. After 
these events have been crowded on each other in this 
" most astonishing manner," it is supposed, next, that 
a full month was required to complete a journey of 
about 250 miles, from Mount Hor on the west to the 
brook Zered on the east of Edom, It is proved, by 
these means, that this point was reached ^ve or six weeks 
later than the time to which it is referred in the text. 
It is next assumed that a fortnight was spent in march- 
ing slowly through the heart of Sihon's kingdom, to 
Pisgah near Jordan, before the war and conquest 
began, in equal defiance to the voice of common sense, 
and the clear statements in the Book of Deuteronomy, 
It is supposed, further, that after a month had been 
spent in taking possession of Sihon's territory, another 
fortnight was required to reduce some villages which 
lay very nearly in its centre. Finally, it is assumed 
that the fears of Balak only led him to send his mes- 
sengers a long distance to Balaam, after he had waited 
for two months and a half, an inactive and trembling 
spectator of the conquest of what had been lately his 
own dominions ; and that it needed a month or six 
weeks to overthrow, under the special direction of the 
God of Israel, a nomade tribe of the desert, for which 
there was required only a small detachment of twelve 
thousand men. In fact, if the time spent had been such 
as the objection assumes, a serious argument might be 
framed against the narrative, for geographical absurdity^ 



THE EVENTS OF THE FOKTIETH YEAR. 201 

and for the lazy progress of the Israehtes at the most 
critical period of their history, when they were be- 
ginning to take possession of the land after a delay of 
forty years. The account, as it stands in the text, is 
consistent with the notes of time and place in every 
part. Instead of justifying the least suspicion of an 
" unhistorical character," it bears the marks of reality 
stamped so clearly on every page, and on almost every 
detail, as to illustrate the saying of our blessed Lord, 
" If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." 



'202 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 

129. The number of the Israelites, compared wltli 
the size of the Promised Land, has been made a further 
objection to the truth of the Pentateuch. 

The argument is of this kind. In two different pas- 
sages — Ex. xxiii. 27-30, Deut. vii. 22 — it is distinctly 
promised that the Canaanites shall be overthrown and 
destroyed by little and little, that the land may not 
be desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply. Now 
the extent of the whole land was 11,000 square miles, or 
seven millions of acres. The Israelites, it is assumed, 
were two millions ; but the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, 
and Essex contain 3,360,000 acres and 1,150,000 people, 
which is nearly the same proportion. No one, how- 
ever, would dream that they were in danger of being de- 
solate, or wild beasts likely to multiply dangerously 
from the thinness of their population. Even in a new 
colony, like Natal, twenty times more thinly peopled 
than Canaan would have been, no such danger is found 
to arise. It is inferred, then, from these comparisons, 
that the statements in Exodus and Deuteronomy are 
legendary misconceptions of a later age, and could not 
have been what they profess to be. Divine promises to 
the chosen people. 

Of all the objections which have dogged the footsteps 
of the sacred narrative of Israel's Sojourn and Exodus, 



THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 203 

from its beginning to its close, this is one of tlie most 
plausible in its first appearance, and most likely to cause 
some real perplexity to a candid and thoughtful reader. 
It will be desirable, then, to examine carefully the 
foundation on which it rests. 

130. First of all, the statements of the Pentateuch 
on this subject are prominent features of the narrative, 
and internally consistent with each other. Passages 
which record the actual numbers and surprising increase 
of the people occur alternately with others, which affirm 
the greatly higher amount of the actual population of 
Canaan. 

The series of texts begins with the very passage to 
which our Lord himself appeals in his reply to the 
Sadducees, " Have ye never read what Moses wrote, 
how in the bush Grod spake to him ?" and from which 
he proves, on Divine authority, the doctrine of the re- 
surrection. There we find the promise that Grod would 
bring the people out of the land of Egypt into a " good 
land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and 
honey." Ex. iii. 8. The size of the land, in comparison 
with the number of the people, is thus one main feature of 
the promise. They had been crowded of late in Goshen, 
but were to have ample space in the land of Canaan. 
Yet, soon after, we are told that six hundred thousand 
journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, of men only, besides 
children. Two months later, when the first series of 
laws were given, they close with the promise on 
which the objection rests — " By little and little I will 
drive them out before thee, until thou be increased, and 
inherit the land." Ex. xxiii. 30. Once more the number 
of the people is named in connection with the atonement- 
money, and the building of the sanctuary ; and more 
fully at the opening of the Book of Numbers^ where the 
numbers of the separate tribes are given. It is named 



204 THE EXODUS OP ISRAEL. 

again at tlie miracle of the qtiails — " Tlie people, 
amongst whom I am, are six hundred thousand foot- 
men." Num. xi. 21. Yet only two chapters later the 
spies return full of discouragement and fear, because of 
the superior power and numbers of the Canaanites. 
*' The people are strong that dwell in the land, and the 
cities are walled and very great : and moreover we 
saw the children of Anak there." Num. xiii. 28. At 
the close of the book the second census occurs,, and the 
total is almost the same as before. The book of Deu- 
teronomy opens with allusion to this mark of the Divine 
blessing. " The Lord your Grod hath multiplied you, 
and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for 
multitude." Deut. i. 10. Yet the chapters which follow 
are one strain of encouragement, and exhort them not to 
despond and fear, because of the superior strength of the 
enemies with whom they have to contend. They are 
called '^ seven nations, greater and mightier than thou." 
vii. 1. And again, "If thou shalt say in thy heart, 
These nations are more than I, how can I dispossess 
them ? thou shalt not be afraid of them : but shalt well 
remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and 
unto all Egypt." Then follows the second passage on 
which the objection rests. " And the Lord thy God will 
put out those nations before thee by little and little : 
thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts 
of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God 
shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them 
with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed." 
vii. 22, 23. And so once more in ch. xi. 23, " Then 
will the Lord drive out all these nations from before 
you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier 
than yourselves." The language of Joshua, after the 
conquest, is precisely similar : " For the Lord hath 
driven out from before you great nations and strong ; 



THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 205 

but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before 
you unto this day." Josh, xxiii. 9. 

A representation so consistent and unvaried is hard 
indeed to reconcile with the sceptical hypothesis of un- 
truthful legend. We have to suppose a writer or 
writers, dwelling in the heart of Palestine, and under 
some of its kings, bent on framing a forgery in the 
name of Moses, and then introducing into it, most pro- 
minently, statements of which the falsehood would be 
apparent to all their countrymen. Surely it is more 
modest and sensible to suspect ourselves of imperfect 
knowledge with regard to the fertility and population 
of the Land of Promise three thousand three hundred 
years ago, than to suppose that a forgery, grossly 
wrong on a topic familiar to all its first readers, 
could be palmed off upon a whole nation as the law 
and message of their God, and could afterwards receive 
that solemn sanction from the lips of Emmanuel, " Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not 
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." 

131. Let us next endeavour to obtain a true estimate 
of the total number of Israel at the Exodus. In " The 
Pentateuch Examined," two millions is assumed to 
be a low reckoning ; and, in fact, other writers, both 
Christians or sceptics, have rated it as high as two and 
a half or even three millions. The estimate of two mil- 
lions is formed by adding to the six hundred thousand 
numbered males three hundred thousand under twenty, 
one hundred thousand old men, and a second million 
for the women and female children. A truer estimate I 
believe to be from sixteen to eighteen hundred thousand, 
for the following reasons : — ■ 

First, The addition for old men is without warrant, 
and opposed to the meaning of the text. The males 
were numbered, " from twenty years old and upward," 



206- THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

with no superior limit of age expressed or implied. 
All the grown-up men who were numbered, except 
Caleb and Joshua, joined in the murmuring, and were 
sentenced to die in the wilderness ; while those who were 
numbered and sentenced included plainly all the grown- 
up men, and their removal by death left behind only a 
younger generation. The captain of Ephraim in the first 
numbering was the grandfather of Joshua, which seems 
of itself to exclude any superior limit of age. And even 
if it were otherwise, from the rapid increase, 30,000 
instead of a hundred thousand would be a full estimate 
for the survivors above sixty years of age. 

Next, the estimate of 300,000 for the males under 
twenty, though some would raise it to double the num- 
ber, must be very near the truth. The 600,000 of the 
second census would consist of those from 20 to 39, born 
since the former census, and those from 39 to 59, born 
but not then numbered. These last, by the proportion 
in tables of life, would be 260,000 or 270,000. With 
an ordinary rate of mortality, as in the Carlisle tables, 
these 270,000 would imply 390,000 thirty-nine years 
before. But, from the special promise made to that 
generation, in contrast with the sentence on their 
fathers, we may fairly assume that the deaths among 
them in this interval were only half of a common ave- 
rage. In this case the males under twenty, at the first 
census, would be 330,000, and the total number of 
males of all ages would be 930,000. Adding to these 
the Levites, we have a total of 950,000. If the number 
of the two sexes were equal, this would imply a total of 
1,900,000 souls. 

132. There is, however, in my opinion, a weighty 
reason for believing that the number of the females at 
the Exodus was considerably less than that of the 
males. The equality usually assumed is inferred from 



THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 207 

the ordinary proportion of the sexes. But the whole 
history is based on a special design of Providence, in- 
volving, without direct miracle, some departure from 
the usual average of fertility. Now the two objects 
apparent in the whole narrative are the rapid in- 
crease of the people in Egypt, and their safe and 
successful migration from Egypt to Canaan. Both 
of these, I believe, point to the same conclusion, that 
there was a large preponderance of male over female 
births down to the time of the Exodus, or perhaps 
even till the entrance of Canaan. A premonition of 
this deviation from the ordinary rule, but in an extreme 
form, meets us in the forefront of the narrative, in 
the fact that Jacob had fifty-one grandsons, and only 
one granddaughter, at the time of the Descent of 
his family into Egypt. 

Let us suppose that the births were so arranged by 
the providence of Grod, that each male of marriageable 
age should be provided with one female, also marriage- 
able, among the Israelites themselves, and see what 
result is implied in a state of rapid and continual in- 
crease. We may further assume, as probable, a mean 
excess in age of the husband over the wife of six or 
seven years. In the case of the three Patriarchs it 
is much higher. Abraham was ten years older than 
Sarah, Isaac probably nearly twenty years older than 
Rebekah ; and between Jacob and his wives the excess 
was- still greater. But from the rate of increase 
through the whole period, the increase in seven 
years will be nearly as seven to five. To secure 
equality at the age of marriage, with this mean in- 
terval in the two sexes, the female births must equal 
the male births, not of the same year, but about seven 
years earlier. This will imply, in one and the same 
year, and in the average of the families, 5 girls to every 



208 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

7 boys. The average of male births required for the 
actual increase has been shewn already to be 4i, or 50 
sons for 12 parents. That of the five highest tribes — 
J udah, Issachar, Dan, Ephraim, and Manasseh — is 
4.650, or rather less than 4f. Assuming this higher 
average of male births, that of female births, to satisfy 
the condition, will be 3^ only, making a total of 8 
children for each family. 

This view has the further merit of lessening 'the de- 
parture from the ordinary course of Providence, while 
the special end is equally attained. A certain excess 
of male births above the usual average is required by 
the promises of rapid increase in Egypt, and by the re- 
cord of their fulfilment. But to assume a like excess of 
female births, unless plainly required for the object in 
view, really introduces a second half-miracle, for which 
there is no warrant. It must be plain that an excess of 
sons is no natural cause for a further excess of daugh- 
ters. One fact results from the history : the other is a 
faulty inference, for which the same reason does not 
really exist, or, at least, not in the same degree. If 
we suppose that in ordinary cases twelve parents have 
36 sons and as many daughters, it is a slighter devia- 
tion to suppose a higher average of 50 sons and 36 
daughters, than one. on which there is an equal excess of 
both. The former is the only deviation which the 
history, rightly interpreted, requires. It seems, then, 
gratuitous and unwarranted to double it for the sake of 
apparent symmetry alone. 

A strict application of this rule would reduce the 
number of females to 680,000, and the total at the 
Exodus to 1,630,000 souls. But, even assuming this 
disparity to have existed through the Sojourn, the rea- 
son would cease with the last generation, who were under 
twenty at the Exodus, when the rapid increase of num- 



THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 209 

ber was being excbanged for the stationary rate during 
the forty years in the wilderness. Applying the reduc- 
tion, then, to the numbered males only, its amount will 
be about 170,000, and the total number 1,730,000 souls. 
This does not imply any large amount of celibacy above 
the age of 23 or 25, because the deficiency would be 
only in females of equal age ; and the daughters, as low 
as 18 or 16, might be married, while the marriage of 
the youths from the same ages till 23 or 25 was delayed. 
On the whole, it appears to me very probable, from the 
above course of reasoning, that the true number at the 
Exodus was less, and not greater, than one million eight 
hundred thousand souls, or less than three times the 
numbered males. 

133. Having fixed the probable number of the Israel- 
ites at the Exodus, we are now able to define more 
clearly the difficulty which has to be explained. The 
population of England, at the opening of this century, 
was very nearly eight millions, and by the last census 
of 1861 it has increased to twenty millions. Its area is 
very nearly 50,000 square miles, while that of Pales- 
tine is about 11,000. It follows that 1,760,000, an 
approximate number at the Exodus, will answer exactly 
to the rate of population in our own country when this 
century began. Again, since the numbered males in the 
time of David were fifteen or sixteen hundred thou- 
sand, or two and a half times their number at the 
Exodus, the population at that time would be almost 
exactly as dense as that of England at the present day. 
How are we to reconcile the former of these facts with 
the passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, which pro- 
mised a conquest " by little and little," till they were 
increased, lest the land should become desolate, and the 
beasts of the field multiply against them ? 

These statements of the sacred text are reconcilable 



210 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

with the actual numbers of the Israehtes on one con- 
dition^ and on one condition alone. Let us assume a 
natural fertility of the land of Canaan, double or triple 
that of our own country. A population as dense as our 
own at present will then have the same relative place 
as ours at the beginning of the century, and the latter 
be relatively as inadequate as a population of three mil- 
lions for the whole of England. The same natural 
fertility, which enabled the land to provide sustenance 
for a larger number, would plainly, if they were absent, 
increase the luxuriance of forest, thicket, and jungle, so 
as to harbour a corresponding number of beasts of 
prey. 

134. Now if we turn once more to the sacred his- 
tory, we find that this is the description of the land of 
promise which meets us from first to last. In the 
fundamental promise of Exod. iii. 8, it is styled " a 
good land and a large, a land flowing with milk and 
honey." In the later review of their deliverance by 
the lips of the prophet Ezekiel, the language of God is 
still more emphatic ; " I lifted up my hand unto them 
to bring them forth of the land of Egypt, into a land 
that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and 
honey, which is the glory of all lands." Ezek. xx. 6. 
The words naturally imply that the land of Canaan was 
pecuHar and pre-eminent in its fertility. 

The report of the spies is to the same effect : " We 
came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely 
it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of 
it." Their evil report referred altogether to the strength 
of the actual inhabitants, which, in their view, made its 
conquest hopeless. 

One expression, however, in this part of their report 
seems to require explanation. " They brought up an evil 
report of the land, saying, The land through which we 



THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 211 

liave gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the 
inhabitants thereof ; and all the people we saw in it are 
men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, 
the sons of Anak, which come of the giants ; and we 
were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were 
in their sight." It would contradict the whole drift of 
their message to suppose either any want of fertility, or 
scantiness of possessors, to be intended by the phrase 
" a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof." One 
would be disposed to think that there is a grammatical 
license of Kal for Hiphil, and that the true sense may 
be " a land that nourisheth up its inhabitants," which 
would suit exactly with the words that follow. Or if 
this license be too great to be allowed, then the sense 
may be — *' a land that swalloweth up the inhabitants 
thereof," so that men of ordinary size are lost in it, 
or overcome by its exuberant growth, and not able to 
bring it under due and profitable culture. In this sense 
of the words they agree with the context, instead of 
contradicting it, and will be a further testimony, in the 
Pentateuch itself, to the remarkable fertility of the land. 
The same view appears repeatedly in the Book of 
Deuteronomy. In chap. viii. 7-9, we have this descrip- 
tion of Canaan : " The Lord thy God bringeth thee 
into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains 
and depths that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land 
of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pome- 
granates ; a land of oil olive, and honey ; a land 
wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou 
shalt not lack anything in it ; a land whose stones are 
iron, and out of whose hills thou may est dig brass. 
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt 
bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he 
hath given thee." Again, in xi. 10-12, it is contrasted 
with Egypt, a country very fertile, and the palm is 

p 2 



212 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

assigned it of superior fertility. " For tlie land whither 
thou goest to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, 
from whence ye come out, where thou sowedst thy seed, 
and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs. 
But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of 
hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of 
heaven : a land which the Lord thy God careth for : 
the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from 
the beginning of the year even unto the end of the 
year." Similar statements recur repeatedly till the end 
of the law, as in the blessing of Moses on Joseph. 
" Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious 
things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that 
coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought 
forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth 
by the moon ; and for the chief things of the ancient 
mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting 
hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness 
thereof." And once more at the close : " The fountain 
of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine ; also 
his heavens shall drop down dev/." 

135. The same view, of the great fertility of Canaan 
at the time of the Conquest, is confirmed by various in- 
cidental notices in the later history. Five or six years 
after the people had crossed over Jordan, we find, from 
the words of Joshua, that they continued to subsist 
within the limits of little more than half of the western 
territory. " And there remained seven tribes, which 
had not yet received their inheritance. And Joshua said 
unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to 
go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your 
fathers hath given you?" Such a complaint implies, 
almost of course, that the part over which they were 
already spread was enough for their immediate wants, 
and that the occupation of the rest was a duty with re- 



THE POPULATION OF CANAAN. 213 

gard to tlieir future progress and welfare, not an urgent 
necessity from tlieir actual numbers. In fact, the united 
number of tbe seven nations they dispossessed would 
probably be four times greater than their own, or from 
seven to eight millions ; so that it is not surprising that 
they should not feel any urgent need to spread them- 
selves at once over the whole surface of the land. This, 
however, could only be true, if its natural resources were 
so great as to sustain easily a numerous population. 

Again, the men of Judah, in the time of David, w^ere 
numbered at 500,000. This would imply, probably, a 
total population not much lower than two millions, 
since the exceptional circumstances at the time of the 
Exodus had long ceased. But the size of the district, 
including Simeon and the southern portion of Dan, is 
only 2400, or at most 2500 square miles; that is, one- 
twentieth of the size of England. The population, 
then, would be nearly twice as dense as our own at the 
present day ; though our manufactures enable a large 
portion of our countrymen to be supported by supplies 
of foreign corn. The population of the other tribes, 
according to Chronicles, was rather more than double, 
while the size of their territory would be three and a 
half times that of Judah. Hence the mean density of 
population would be greater only by one half than the 
present amount in England. For 4 x 1,570,000 = 
6,280,000 would be a near approach to their total num- 
ber ; and this would correspond to 314-7-11 = 2 8^ mil- 
lions, in a country of the size of England. Yet in the 
days of Solomon, when the number seems to have been 
still larger, 1 Kings iv. 20, there was abundance for all, 
and Solomon provided Hiram, in return for the labour 
of his servants, with a large supply of food for liis 
household. " And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thou- 
sand measures of wheat for food to his household, and 



214 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

twenty measures of pure oil : thus gave Solomon to 
Hiram year by year" (1 Kings v. 11). 

136. The danger from wild beasts, in a country well 
wooded and extremely fertile, if the inhabitants were re- 
duced at once to one-fourth of their total number, and 
these were disposed also, for several years, to keep to- 
gether in the central districts, is too evident to occasion 
any real difficulty. The perplexity can arise only from 
the great error of transferring our modern associations, 
when the use of firearms has given man such an im- 
mense ascendency over every kind of wild animal, to 
circumstances wholly different. When Samson went 
down to Timnath, in the vineyards, a young lion 
roared against him. When David was keeping his 
father's flock in Judah, he encountered both a lion 
and a bear, and such perils are implied to be frequent. 
Benaiah, one of his valiant men, is noted for a similar 
exploit. " He went down and slew a lion in a pit in 
time of snow." The man of God, who prophesied to 
Jeroboam, was torn by a lion on his return from Bethel 
to Judah. All these events refer to times when the 
population was greatly increased. As soon as it 
began to decline, amidst the sins of the nation, and 
the wasting wars of the two divided kingdoms, the 
danger referred to in the early promise of the law 
became a serious evil, and took rank as one of God's 
sorest judgments. Ez. xiv. 2. Thus Jeremiah also pro- 
phesies before the Captivity, " W^herefore a Hon out of 
the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall 
spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities : 
every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces : 
because their transgressions are many, and their 
backslidings are increased," Jer. v. 6. Compare also 
2 Kings xvii. 26. 

A review, then, of all these statements of the Penta- 



TUB POPULATION OF CANAAN. 215 

teuch, and of the later Scriptures, witti regard to tlie 
fertility of the land of Canaan, compared with the 
number of the people at the Exodus and in later times, 
are found to agree perfectly together. Each of the 
three statements, when taken alone, might perplex and 
startle a superficial reader ; but, when they are collated 
together, they are found to be consistent and harmo- 
nious. And while the barrenness produced by ages of 
judgment is now the source of an apparent difficulty, 
we have a striking promise that the early fruitfulness 
of Palestine shall be again restored : " For the Lord 
will comfort Zion : he will comfort all her waste places ; 
and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her 
desert like the garden of the Lord : joy and gladness 
shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of 
melody." Is. h. 3. 



2X6 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

REVIEW OP NUMERICAL OBJECTION'S. 

137. The main objections have now been examined, 
which have been brought of late against the Mosaic 
narrative of the Exodus, beginning with the descent of 
Jacob and his family into Egypt, and closing with the 
conquest of Canaan imder Joshua, Before entering, 
however, on the positive evidence for the authenticity 
and Divine authority of the Pentateuch, it seems desir- 
able to offer a brief summary of the whole argument. 
Every new assault upon the word of Grod, fropa what- 
ever quarter it may come, throws a clearer light on the 
saying of the Psalmist : " The beginning of thy word is 
true ; every one of thy righteous judgTiients endureth 
for ever" (Psa. cxix. 160). 

138. I. The first Objection is drawn from the list of 
Jacob's family at the Descent, and rests on the follow- 
ing quotation : " And the sons of Judah, Er and Onan, 
and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah ; but Er and Onan 
died in the land of Canaan ; and the sons of Pharez, 
Hezron and Hamul." 

It is inferred from the previous history. Gen. xxxviii., 
that Pharez and Zarah were mere infants at the De- 
scent, and Hezron and Hamul still unborn. ^' Yet the 
statement, that Hezron and Hamul were born in the 
land of Canaan, is vouched so positively by the many 
passages, which sum \ii^ the seventy souls, that to give 



EEYIEW OF NUMEEICAL OBJECTIONS. 217 

Tip this point is to give up an essential part of the whole 
story." This is given as a first instance ''that the 
Books of the Pentateuch contain, in their own account 
of the story they profess to relate, such remarkable con- 
tradictions, and involve such plain impossibilities, that 
they cannot be regarded as true narratives of historical 
matters of fact." " It appears to be certain that the 
writer here means to say that Hezron and Hamul were 
born in the land of Canaan, and were among the 
seventy persons who came into Egypt with Jacob." 

Ans. — First, if this objection were firm in every part, 
and no solution of it could be given, the true inference 
is wholly misrepresented. It might disprove an inspi- 
ration of the Book of Genesis, so full and plenary, as to 
forbid the entrance of the slightest inaccuracy. But the 
substantial truth of the history would remain, and be 
confirmed by the objection itself, which borrows all its 
materials for detecting a supposed error in one or two 
numbers from the fuller statements of the previous 
chapters. To put the round number, seventy, for the 
exact number, sixty-eight, by a slight oversight in 
placing the birth of Hezron and Hamul a few years too 
early, might detract from the perfection of this Book of 
Scripture, but it is a strange abuse of terms to style it 
" a remarkable contradiction, and manifest impossi- 
bility," degrading the whole to the character of a legen- 
dary tale. All might remain true and authentic, except 
the precise date of two births, and the accuracy of a 
round number, and one of the three or four items of 
which it is composed. 

Next, the objection begins with a misquotation of the 
text. Hezron and Hrimul are really distinguished from 
all the other names ly the use of a different phrase. 
The rest, with no exception_, form a simple list or cata- 
logue. Here alone we find the historical form : " And 



218 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul." A key 
to the difficulty, provided by the Holy Spirit, is care- 
lessly overlooked by the objector, and the first text is 
unconsciously, but really falsified, in this long indictment 
against the word of God. 

Thirdly, it is nowhere expressly affirmed in the Pen- 
tateuch that Hezron and Hamul were born in the 
land of Canaan. The notion that it is implied rests 
on the slight, but important misquotation noticed 
above. On the face of the text, it is Er and Onan, not 
Hezron and Hamul,. who form part of the list or cata- 
logue, and complete the seventy names. The form is 
precisely similar in each case. " And the sons of 
Reuben ; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 
. . . And the sons of Levi ; Gershon, Kohath, and 
Merari. And the sons of Judah ; Er, and Onan, and 
Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah." Since, however, these 
two gran'dsons of Jacob, and these only, had died before 
the Descent, a note is added, to remind us of the fact, 
and to explain in passing why they were still to be 
reckoned. " But Er and Onan died in the land of 
Canaan : and there were sons of Pharez — Hezron and 
Hamul." It is plain that Pharez had other sons, since 
there was a family of Pharzites. But the notice clearly 
means that these two sons of Pharez afterwards replaced 
Er and Onan, becoming heads of distinct families in the 
room of the deceased. The clause explains, then, on 
what ground Er and Onan, though dead, are still in- 
cluded in the reckoning. 

Fourthly, this view of the true meaning is confirmed 
by the historical form which occurs in this clause, and 
with these two names alone ; by the order of mention, 
following the allusion to their uncles' death ; by the 
fact that, as eldest sons of Pharez, the firstborn of 
Tamar, they fulfil the law of substitution through the 



REVIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 219 

wife of the deceased; by tlie further fact, that as Hezron, 
the firstborn of Pharez, replaced Er in the headship of 
a family, the firstborn of Shelah replaced him in a dif- 
ferent way ; for we read in 1 Chron. iv. 21, " The sons 
of Shelah the son of Judah, Er, the father of Lecah •," 
and, finally, by the close analogy with the omission of 
three kings in the first page of the New Testament, 
even where stress is laid on the three sets of fourteen 
generations, and where the notoriety of those reigns 
makes the idea of careless mistake or ignorance wholly 
monstrous and incredible. 

Fifthly and lastly, the true key to the difficulty is the 
character of all Grod's messages, which mingle some his- 
torical circumstance with their most didactic portions, 
and light up the simplest details of history and the most 
unadorned genealogy with some lesson of spiritual truth. 
Thus the fundamental genealogy of the Law, by the 
way in which the sacred number, seventy, is completed, 
involves the truth of the Gospel, that death, in the chosen 
seed, is no complete extinction, *' for all live unto him ;" 
while the fundamental genealogy of the Grospel illus- 
trates indirectly the message of the Law, that God visits 
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 
third and fourth generation. 

139. Objection II. The Fourth Generation, Gen. 
XV. 13-16. 

" It is an indisputable fact, that the story, as told in 
the Pentateuch, intends it to be understood ; first, that 
the children of Israel came out of Egypt about 215 
years after they went down thither in the time of 
Jacob ; and secondly, that they came out in the fourth 
generation from the adults in the prime of life who 
went down with Jacob. And it should be observed 
that the second of these results does not depend in any 
way upon the correctness of the former." 



220 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL, 

Ans, — The first of these statements is true, apart from 
the misnomer of calling that view indisputable, which 
has been and is disputed by a large number of learned 
critics and chronologers, whose reasons for preferring 
the double period, though insufficient, are specious and 
plausible. But the two other statements, in the sense 
of the writer, are wholly and demonstrably untrue. 

First, the two results are so far from being wholly 
independent, that the proof of the one is the disjDroof of 
the other. The fourth generation or descent from the 
sons of Jacob is the third from the grandsons, who were 
born at the migration. The main body of the num- 
bered males, by the account, must have been from 20 to 
40 years old at the numbering, or born from 176 to 196 
years from the migration. If they were three descents 
from the grandsons, we must add to this the mean age of 
the grandsons, at least seven years, and we have from 61 
to 69 years for the mean age of every Israelite father in 
Egypt at the birth of every son ! And this result comes 
out at a time when from 20 to 60 years, by a public 
law, was the proper time of manhood. Lev. xxvii. 3, 7 ; 
60 years the beginning of old age, 70 years the full 
term of life, Psa. xc. 10 ; and 80 years that of advanced 
and feeble age. Such a conclusion refutes itself, and is 
manifestly absurd. 

Secondly, the objection is based on the assumption that 
the word " generation " in Gen. xv. 16, means a descent 
from father to son, when taken in the general average 
of the whole people. This, by the laws of life at the 
tipie, would imply, without a series of miracles, a space 
,^T 120 to 160 years, for the total length of the four 
generations, of which the last would be still current at 
the Exodus. Baron Bunsen, however, from the same 
text, infers that a generation clearly means a century, 
and that the four generations are 4-00 years complete. 



REVIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 221 

The mean of these opposite errors is near the truth, 
and would give 540 -—2 — 270 years from the Descent 
to the Conquest of Canaan, which was actually finished 
just ten years sooner. So contradictory and mutually 
destructive are the grounds on which two different lines 
of scepticism have been based on the very same text ! 

Thirdly, if generation were used in the sense of a 
descent from father to son, the utmost that could be in- 
ferred from the promise would.be, that in some lines the 
fourth descent would still be alive at the Exodus, but 
not that this must apply to the main body of the 
people. Accordingly, it was true, in this eense, of 
Moses and Aaron, of Mishael and Elzaphan, of Hur 
and Korah, who are expressly named as heads and 
leaders at the Exodus. 

Fourthly, the frequent and most natural sense of a 
generation^ when applied to a whole people, is " the 
main body of contemporary lives." And the chro- 
nological sense, derived from this, is a moderate 
lifetime^ excluding either mere infancy, or extreme 
and unusual old age. For the days of Moses the 
Bible itself supphes the standard, and fixes it at 
seventy years. The two notes of the time thus agree, 
for 215 years is three full generations of seventy years ; 
and the fourth would be current, and include the time 
in the wilderness, the conquest of Canaan, and nearly 
all the life of Joshua. Also the first of these four 
generations is defined in the Book of Exodus by the 
death of Joseph, which was 71 years after the Descent ; 
and the last, in Judges ii., by the death of Joshua and 
the elders, which was, according to Josephus, exactly 
280 years from the Descent, and at most 285 years. 
Thus the four generations will be the contemporaries of 
Levi and Joseph, of Amram and Gilead, of Moses, 
Aaron and Korah, of Eleazar and Joshua. 



222 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

140. Objection III. The separate Genealogies 
IN Egypt. 

" If we examine the different genealogies of remai li- 
able men, which are given in the Pentateuch, we shall 
find that, as a rule, the contemporaries of Moses and 
Aaron are in the third^ and those of Joshua and Eleazar 
in ih^ fourth generation, from some one of the sons or 
adult grandsons of Jacob, who went down with him 
into Egypt." Twelve alleged instances are given, of 
Moses, Aaron, Mishael, Elzaphan, Korah, Dathan, 
Abiram, Achan, Nahshon, Jair, and Bezaleel, and the 
daughters of Zelophehad. 

Ans, First, the twelve cases reduce themselves to 
nine, by including three pairs of brothers. This is a 
wholly inadequate ground from which to infer the 
general average for 100,000 genealogies. 

Secondly, not one of the nine cases, as it stands in the 
argument, gives four descents to the Exodus. Moses 
and Aaron (1), Mishael and Elzaphan (2), and Korah 
(3), Dathan and Abiram (4), give three only. Achan 
and Jair give four to the Conquest, that is, three to the 
Exodus. Nahshon and Zelophehad give five to the 
Exodus, and Bezaleel six. Thus, on the face of the 
statement, we have six cases of three descents to the 
Exodus, two of five, and one of six, made the sufficient 
proof for the constant occurrence oi four in a hundred 
thousand families ! 

Thirdly, the first instance of Moses and Aaron, in- 
stead of forming any basis for an average, is plainly 
and expressly a solitary and extreme exception. For 
they were own grandsons of Levi by their mother, and 
still 175 years elapsed between the births of Levi and of 
Aaron. Also the age of Aaron at the Exodus, 83, 
makes it clear that, in the average of families, two 
descents more would be numbered, making ^i;^ to the 



REVIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 223 

Exodus, even as based on a genealogy where the numoer 
is exceptionally low. 

Fourthly, the two next cases, of Mishael and Elzaphan, 
and of Korah, being own cousins of Moses and Aaron, 
are also probably, and almost certainly, exceptions to 
the general rule of the same kind. 

Fifthly, the three other cases, of Dathan and Abiram, 
of Achan and of Jair, are all based on demonstrable mis- 
interpretations of the sacred text. Eliab was " the son 
of Pallu," in the same sense in which he was " the son 
of Eeuben," Num. xxvi. 8, Deut. xi. 6 ; since the next 
previous verse implies that the Palluites were then ten 
thousand adults. Zabdi, the grandfather of Achan, was 
" the son of Zarah," Josh. vii. 1, 18, as Achan himself 
was " the son of Zarah," ver. 24 ; that is, head of a house 
in the family of the Zarhites, who numbered from ten 
to twenty thousand souls, Num. xxvi. 20-22. Jair, 
again, took possession of Bashan, in the same sense 
as Machir, his great-grandfather, the son of Manasseh, 
took possession of Grilead, Num. xxxii. 40, 41, Deut. iii. 
14, 15. The genealogy in Chronicles implies that he 
was born 100 years before the Exodus ; and the notion 
that he actually survived till the second numbering is a 
complete misconception of two very plain texts. 

Three cases alone thus remain, really available for 
evidence, those of Nahshon, Zelophehad, and Bezaleel. 
Two of these give jive, and the third six descents at the 
Exodus. And both the former of these would be more 
correctly reckoned at six also. From a comparison of 
all the data, it seems certain that Nahshon and Ze- 
lophehad were at least sixty at the Exodus, and pro- 
bably older ; so that the children of their equals in age 
would be mainly above twenty years. 

Sixthly, the genealogy of Joshua, as it now stands 
in 1 Chron. vii. 20-27, appears to place him ten descents 



224 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

from Joseph, and would thus be fatal at once to the 
rule of four only. It is, therefore, hastily rejected, 
and pronounced worthless and incredible, on account of 
a difficulty in the text as it stands, which virtually 
extends it to the seventeenth generation. But a slight 
change in the pointing, without any further alteration, 
makes the whole clear and consistent. It then places 
him the fifth from Tahan, head of the family of the 
Tahanites in the tribe of Ephraim, or seventh from 
Joseph, and thus confirms fully the natural inference 
from the chronology, while it refutes the figment of a 
constant interval of four descents. In fact Elishama, his 
grandfather, was alive at the Exodus, and captain of the 
host of Ephraim ; when, by the theory in question, he 
ought to be Ephraim's own son, and Joshua to have 
been one of the children nursed on the knees of Joseph ! 

Lastly, the only safe way of reckoning the average 
number of descents, unless we had hundreds of complete 
genealogies, instead of -^yq or six complete, and three 
or four incomplete, is from the chronology, and the 
known length of life and age of manhood. The results 
are then plain. From the time when Joseph was 20, 
and ten of his brethren still older, to the numbering at 
the Exodus, are 235 years ; or four descents of 59, five of 
47, six of 39, seven of 334, eight of 29i, nine of 26, ten 
of 23i, and eleven of 21-|- years. Hence seven or eight 
must plainly be the most probable and usual number, 
six and nine both frequent, ^yq rather unusual, and 
four, nine, and ten comparatively rare, for the youngest 
numbered males in each line. The whole objection, 
then, is nothing else than a tissue of false reasoning, 
founded on the misapprehension of a single text. 

141. Objection lY. The Increase of Israel in" 
Egypt. 

" It is quite impossible that there should have been 



REVIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 225 

such a number of the people of Israel in Egypt at tlio 
Exodus, as to furnish 600,000 warriors in the prime of 
life, representing at the least two millions of souls ; that 
is to say, it is impossible, if we will take the data to be 
derived from the Pentateuch itself." 

Ans. This objection depends on the last, and perishes 
along with it. It rests wholly on the mistake of con- 
founding a descent from father to son with a lifetime. 
In the latter sense of generation, three were complete at 
the Exodus, and a fourth current till the Conquest. 
But of average descents, six or seven were complete, 
and the seventh or eighth was current. - 

Besides this main error, the statement is doubly in- 
correct. The text does not speak of 600,000 " warriors 
in the prime of life," but on the contrary, of " every 
male from twenty years old and upward," all that were 
able to go forth or march in the host. The sentence on 
them included plainly every higher age, so that none 
were left but the younger generation. Again, the 
number was not at least two millions, but at most two 
millions, and probably from seventeen to eighteen hun- 
dred thousand. 

Finally, if we take the data of the Pentateuch itself, the 
whole narrative is consistent and harmonious. The 
repeated promises to the three Patriarchs require an 
increase in Egypt much above the usual rate, though 
not strictly miraculous, so as to result from the especial 
blessing of the God of Israel. Now the actual rate of 
annual increase in our own country is almost exactly 
two per -cent. ; the extreme rate of physical possibility, 
when each father has ten sons and ten daughters, is 
eight per cent. ; and the rate in Egypt is just midway 
between them, or five per cent. 

Again, the Twelve Patriarchs had 51 sons at the 
Descent, and their mean age at their birth was 29^ 

Q 



226 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

years. The rate required by the increase throughout 
the Sojourn, is 50 sons from 12 parents at a mean age 
of 30 years, which is shghtly lower. When, however, 
we take account of the household of Jacob, it becomes 
lower still. • Thus, if we take the data the Pentateuch 
supplies, the whole account is thoroughly consistent. 

142. Objection Y. " In order that the 51 males of 
Kohath's generation might produce 600,000 fighting 
men in Joshua's, we must suppose that each man had 
46 children, and so on ; of which prolific increase, it 
need hardly be said, -there is not the slightest indication 
in the Bible." 

Ans. In order that this statement may be true, a 
further condition is required, which the objection pru- 
dently keeps out of sight ; namely, that no Israelite in 
Egypt. should be a father at all, till he was old enough 
to be a grandfather, and then should beget as many 
children of his own, as he might otherwise have had 
grandchildren in the course of nature. For the average 
of a generation, in this argument, is 201 — 3 = 67 
years. We are thus invited to assume, first of all, that 
every Israelite was barren up to the age of 60, in order 
that the Pentateuch may be proved " a cunningly 
devised fable ;" because in that case he must have had 
twins every year, till 83 years old, in order to bring 
about the actual increase. 

Other curious results follow from the same hypothesis. 
First, since Joshua on this view was three descents 
from Ephraim, and Ephraim's sons of the third gene- 
ration were brought up on Joseph's knees, it will result 
that Joshua was almost 140 years old at the Exodus, or 
sixty years older than Moses. Or else, from the same 
passage it will be proved that Joseph lived 180 years 
in Egypt, that is, three generations of more than 
60 years, and survived till Moses fled into Midian. 



EEVIEW OF NUMEEICAL OBJECTIONS. 227 

Again, in the tribe of Judah, since Amminadab is 
the third descent from Pharez, or the. fourth from 
Judah, it will follow that Aaron's father-in-law and 
Nahshon's father was twenty or thirty years' younger 
than his own son, and forty at least younger than his 
son-in-law. Whatever, then, may have been the case 
with the Israelites, the grand mistake on which the 
objection rests is certainly prolific enough to breed a 
hundred, and even a thousand absurdities. 

143. Objection YI. The Danites at the Exodus. 

" In the fourth generation Dan would have had 
27 warriors descended from him, instead of 62,700, as 
they are numbered in Num. ii. 26, increased to 64,400 
in Num. xxvi. 43. In order to have had this number 
born to him, we must suppose that Dan's one son, and 
each of his sons and grandsons must have had about 
80 children of both sexes." 

A71S. Since Dan was 44 at the Descent, his son 
Hushim may have been 24 at that time. A mean value 
would be 12 years, but by inference from the later 
increase, we may assume 20 for his probable age. 
Three descents to the numbering will be exactly 72 
years apiece. By a first absurdity, then, of supposing 
no sons born in this tribe before 60 years of age, we 
may create a second absurdity, of requiring four to be 
born each year to every parent above that age, for 
twenty years, or till he is eighty years old. And it is 
on the strength of such inconceivable follies, that the 
whole Church is called upon to cast away its faith of 
two thousand years, and the Incarnate Son of God 
himself is charged with ignorance and falsehood. 

The true result, supposing the whole tribe descended 
from rfiushim alone, is that the mean annual increase 
in this tribe, and in that of Ephraim, must have been 
5f instead of five per cent. Or otherwise, that every 

Q 2 



228 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

six parents must have had together 29 sons and 14 
daughters, at the mean age of 30 years, or about ^ye 
sons and two daughters apiece. But it is also not im- 
probable that other sons were born to Dan in Egypt, 
who therefore were not constituted heads of families, 
but " called after the name of their brother in their in- 
heritance." Gen. xlviii. 6. And it is still more pro- 
bable, and almost certain, that the household of Dan 
came down with him Gren. xlii. 9, xlvii. 12 ; Exod i. 1, 
and by intermarriage, or otherwise, swelled the number 
of the tribe at the Exodus. 

144. Objection YII. The Levites at the Exodus. 

" The Amramites, numbered as Levites in the fourth 
generation, were only two, namely, the two sons of 
Moses. Hence the rest of the Kohathites of this gene- 
ration must have been made up of the descendants of 
Izhar and Uzziel, each of whom had th7''ee sons, Exod. 
vi. 21, 22. Consequently, since all the Kohathites were 
numbered at 2750, these six men must have had between 
them, according to the Scripture story, 2748 sons, and 
we must suppose, about the same number of daughters." 

Ans, Here it is assumed without proof, and against 
all reason : 1st. That a list of " the heads of the fathers 
of the Levites, according to their families " at the 
Exodus, is a complete list of the families themselves 
down to the same time. 2nd. That since Amram 
married Jochebed, and had issue by her, Aaron, Moses, 
and Miriam, when he was about 100 years old, he had 
neither married nor had children, through eighty 
marriageable years of his life which had passed before 
their birth. 3rd, That when Aaron is told (Num. 
xviii. 1), " Thou and thy sons and thy father's house 
with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctnary," 
and again, that " of Kohath was the family of the 
Amramites "—-no house or family of Amram, Aaron's 



REVIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 229 

father, was in being, but only the two soHtary sons of 
Moses, born in Midian. 4th. That Hebron had dis- 
appeared, and his family perished at the Exodus ; 
.though in the time of David " of the Hebronites, 
Hashabiah and his brethren, men of valour, 1700, were 
officers on the side of Jordan westward, in all the 
business of the Lord and the service of the king," and 
Jerijah and his brethren, " men of valour, 2700 chief 
fathers, whom King David made rulers over the 
Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Ma- 
nasseh." 1 Ohron. xxvi. 30-32. 5th. That because six 
grandsons of Kohath by Izhar and Uzziel are named as 
chief of the fathers at the Exodus, and still alive, there- 
fore neither Izhar nor Uzziel had other sons or grand- 
sons who were dead before the Exodus, and had left 
many children ; although, if Korah and Mishael were 
80 years old at the Exodus, they must, in all likelihood, 
have been born to their respective fathers, the two 
younger sons of Kohath, at the age of from 85 to 95 
years. It is a pitiable spectacle to see the truth of 
Grod's most holy word assailed on the strength of a con- 
stellation of such crudities as these. 

145. Objection YIII. The Increase op the 
Levites in the Wilderness. 

" The population of England increases at the rate of 
about 23 per cent, in 10 years. On the same scale, then, 
that is, at no greater rate of increase than this, the 
22,000 Levites should have increased in ten years to 
27,060, in the next ten years to 33,284, in the next ten 
to 40,939, and in the last eight to 48,471 ; instead of 
which the numbei of this favoured tribe is given only 
at 23,000. In other words they should have increased 
by more than 26,000, but they are represented as 
increased by only 1000. On the other hand the tribe 
of Manasseh increased from 32,200 to 52,700, and all 



230 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

these were men in the prime of life, and not one of the 
32,200 were numbered among the 52,700. Whereas 
the 22,000 Levites were males of all ages from a month 
old and upward, and many of them must have survived 
the 38 years; and yet these, with their children and 
grandchildren, were only increased by a thousand in 
the same interval. It must now be sufficiently plain 
that the account of these numbers is of no historical 
value whatever." 

Ans. A new and singular test is here laid down, by 
which to try the truth of all history, sacred or profane. 
It is "a certain historical datum " that the population 
of England has grown in the ratio 1.23 in the last 
ten years, when due allowance has been made for 
emigration. Hence it follows that every people in 
every age, and especially the twelve tribes before and 
after the Exodus, ought to have increased at the same 
rate. This is the Yincentian rule in a new form, " quod 
semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus." By this we 
may detect and expose every historical forgery. But 
the Levites, as indeed all the tribes, are open rebels 
against this golden rule of proportion. The three sons 
of Levi should have increased only to 257 in Egypt, 
and they were so perverse as to reach 22,000. Again, 
these 22,000 should have increased to 48,471 in the 
wilderness, and they were so lazy as to reach only 23,000. 
The punishment is severe for this double act of rebellion 
against our tables of logarithms, and they are put out 
of historical existence altogether. 

It may be wise, however, to temper justice with 
mercy in the application of this severe test of historical 
reality. Our own existence, as Englishmen, will other- 
wise be in serious danger. A thousand years ago, in 
the days of Alfred, the population of England was 
certainly more than half a million. By virtue of the 



REVIEW OF NUMEEICAL OBJECTIONS. 231 

rule, it should have increased in the interval just a 
thousand million times, or amount this day to 500 
billions. But the last census makes it just 20 millions, 
or twenty-five million times less than it ought to be. 
Hence, according to the new test, the returns of the 
last Census, and the annals of our country from Alfred 
to our own days, "it is now sufficiently plain, are of 
no historical value whatever." 

It is unfortunate, also, where so much is made to 
depend on obedience to the law of geometrical propor- 
tion, that the objector should be the first to transgress 
his new code of moral duty, by working his sum wrong. 
For the true number to which the Levites should have 
increased by his own law, is 48,313, and not 48,471, 
which merely results from a little arithmetical blunder 
of his own. 

If such an argument deserve a serious reply, I answer 
as follows— 

1st. The historical test here set up is preposterous 
and absurd, and would expound away every historical 
record, and every tribe and nation on the earth, into 
the land of dreams. 

2nd. Rates of increase, and rules of proportion may 
form useful negative tests, to compare alleged facts with 
each other, to define their conditions, and shew whether 
they come within the limits of what is possible and 
credible. But to make them positive tests, to which 
every tribe in every age must conform, regardless of 
the infinite varieties of human life and national history, 
is wholly to mistake their real office, and one of the 
grossest of critical absurdities. 

3rd. The contrast between the rate of increase in 
Egypt, and the slight change in the wilderness, is 
a natural result of the altered circumstances, since 
Goshen had become densely peopled, and of a wholly 



232 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

different stage of the Divine purpose towards the chosen 
race. 

4th. The difference in the limit down to which the 
Levites and Manassites are numbered has scarcely any 
bearing whatever on the difference of their rates of 
increase. It neither increases nor lessens the difficulty of 
accounting for it, because each tribe is reckoned down 
to the same limit each time. The attempt to frame an 
objection out of this contrast is a paralogism of the most 
glaring kind. The rate of increase of the Levites 
depends on the ratio of the births all through the 
wilderness to the births forty years or more before the 
Exodus. The like increase of the Manassites depends 
on the ratio of the births twenty years before, and nine- 
teen after the first numbering, to those of the previous 
forty years. In each case one term of the comparison 
is wholly hidden at the first Census, and comes to light 
only at the second. So far, then, as the difference has 
any bearing on the question, it helps to account for the 
diversity of the two rates. The increase, rapid in Egypt, 
is wholly checked in the wilderness. But in the case 
of the Levites, the births all through the wilderness are 
compared with all the last years in Egypt, while in the 
case of Manasseh, twenty years in Egypt, as well as 
twenty in the wilderness, are compared in their sur- 
viving births with the still earlier years. So super- 
ficial is the objection in every detail. 

5th. The diversity of rates, where the Manassites 
increase greatly, the Levites slowly, the whole people 
are stationary, and the Simeonites are reduced to less 
than half, when it keeps within reasonable limits, is 
a pledge of historical reality, not a mark of falsehood. 
In every age of the world, and in every tribe and 
family of mankind, human life obeys deeper and more 
complex laws than tables of logarithms can supply. 



EEYIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 233 

These numbers in the Pentateucli exhibit many seem- 
ing anomahes, precisely because they are a true record 
of real facts, and not the creations of a Jewish forger 
or a modern critic, working easy sums in rule of three, 
either with or without a table of logarithms by his side. 

6th. The comparison of the Levites between 30 and 
50 with their total number implies and agrees with the 
low rate of increase, which the Second Census more 
plainly reveals. 

7th. Lastly, the increase of the Manassites, who, 
along with the Ephraimites and Danites, start one 
descent later than the other tribes, or from one grand- 
son only, merely shews that the arrest on their increase 
did not, in consequence, begin so early as in the 
other tribes. Thus every part of the objection, when 
thoroughly sifted, is found equally worthless, and " has 
no historical value whatever." 

146. Objection IX. The Number of the Firstborn. 

" The number of boys in every family must have 
been, on the average, forty-two. This will be seen at 
once, if we consider that the rest of the 900,000 males 
were not firstborn, and therefore, each of these must 
have had one or other of the 22,273 as the firstborn of 
his own family ; except^ of course, any case where the 
firstborn of any family was a daughter^ or was dead., of 
which we shall speak presently. So that, according to 
the story in the Pentateuch, every mother in Israel must 
Jiave had., on the average forty -two sons.'' 
^ Ans. This prodigious result, of forty-two sons and 
nearly as many daughters for every mother in Israel, is 
gained by combining three grand errors, one of which 
triples the number, a second doubles it, and a third 
increases it by one half; so that their joint effect is to 
increase it just ninefold. The true result of the actual 
data is to give a probable number of 4i sons, and 3 J 



234 THE EXODUS OP ISRAEL. 

daughters, or a total of 8 boys and girls, in each family. 
This may be shewn briefly by the following reasons : — 

1st. The basis of the judgment on Egypt, and the 
consecration of the firstborn, was the relation of Israel 
to Jehovah as a firstborn child, under the tutelage of 
his father. " When Israel was a child, then I loved him, 
and called my son out of Egypt." Hosea xi. 1. 

2nd. The judgment on Egypt, for the denial of 
G-od's paternal right over Israel, was strictly a domestic 
visitation, not on the adult Egyptians, but on the eldest 
male child in each family, " the chief of all their 
strength/' Psa. cv. 36, "so that in every house there 
was one dead," Exod. xii. 30. That one was the eldest 
son, and not the householder or parent, else Pharaoh 
himself, in all likelihood, must have perished also. 

3rd. The consecration of Israel answered strictly to 
the judgment on Egypt. The Passover was celebrated 
in each house, and was a domestic deliverance. Only 
after the sons of Israel themselves have been numbered, 
or all the adult males, the further charge is given, 
'' Number all the firstborn males to the sons of Israel, 
from a month old and upward ;" that is, all the firstborn 
children, who were males, to the parents who have 
been numbered just before. 

Thus the number is reduced to one third, or 14 sons, 
and 14, or m^ore probably 10 daughters. 

4th. The numbering was of firstborn males only, and 
not of eldest sons, who had an older sister. 

This reduces the number to one half, or about seven 
sons and five daughters to each family. 

5th. Children who died in infancy might be replaced 
by others, but not the firstborn. By common tables of life 
this reduces the ratio as 141 to 200 or two thirds nearly. 
Hence, finally, 4f sons, and probably 3|- daughters, or 
8 boys and girls together, is the total number required 



REVIEW OF NUMERICAL OBJECTIONS. 235 

for each Israelite family. This agrees exactly with the 
rate of increase dnring the Sojourn, with a mean descent 
or generation, from father to son, of 31 or 32 years. 
The objection, then, turns into a fresh confirmation of 
the consistency and truth of the whole narrative. 

On No. 4 we find, in " The Pentateuch Examined " 
this very singular remark. 

" Let us suppose that they were equal in number, 
and there were as many firstborn females. This will 
not by any means get rid of, or at all diminish^ the es- 
sential difficulty of the question : it will only change 
the form of it. Having now brought in the idea of the 
daughter^ we must remember that, if there were 900,000 
males, there were about as many females. And 44,546 
firstborn children among a population of 1^800,000 
would imply that each mother had, on the average, 
forty-two children as before, but twenty-one sons and 
twenty-one daughters." 

This is an amazing assertion. It assumes that the birth 
and existence of the 900,000 female Israelites depends 
on the chance, whether Dr. Kurtz and his opponent 
choose to introduce " the idea of the daughters " into 
their calculation. But with all submission, the daugh- 
ters are there, and their birth is a fact, whether we 
introduce the idea or not. Thus, if the numbered were 
the eldest sons, the conclusion must be that each 
mother had 42 sons, and nearly as many daughters. 
Since they were firstborn males only, the number must 
be halved, and becomes 21 sons, and nearly as many 
daughters. Or, applying first the two other corrections, 
and the estimate elsewhere given, that the daughters 
were as ^yq to seven, the remark of Dr. Kurtz makes 
the whole difference whether the average of boys and 
girls together was 16, or only 8, in each family. This 
reduction of the number to just one half, is affirmed, 



236 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

by a strange illusion, to leave the difficulty undimin- 
ished, and only to change the form of it. As if the 
daughters must not equally have been born, and formed 
a part of the families, whether the eldest sons, or only 
the firstborn males, were the parties numbered 1 

147. X. Epilogue of Numerical Objections. 

" But then what are we to say of the whole story 
of the Exodus, of the camping and marching of the 
Israelites, of their fighting with Amalek and Midian, of 
the 44 Levites slaying 3000 of the children of Israel, 
of their dying by pestilence 14,700 at one time, 24,000 
at another, as well as the whole body of 600,000 fight- 
ing men being swept away during the forty years' 
sojourn in the wilderness ? How were the 20 Kohath- 
ites, the 12 Gershonites, and the 12 Merarites to 
discharge the offices assigned them, and to do the work 
of 8580 men ? What were these forty-four people, with 
the two priests and their families, to do with the forty- 
eight cities assigned to them ? How could the Taber- 
nacle itself have been erected, when the silver was con- 
tributed by a poll-tax of half a shekel, levied on the 
whole body of 603,550 warriors, who did not exist ?" 

Ans. What we shall say, and are bound to say, is 
very short and simple. First, as disciples of our 
blessed Lord, we adopt and repeat his words, endorsed 
with the Amen of the Faithful and True Witness, 
" Yerily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all 
be fulfilled." And next, as men of common sense, 
we say of these numerical objections by which the 
Pentateuch has been assailed, that a more astounding 
series of misinterpretations and false reasonings has 
never, so far as we are aware, been seriously propounded 
for the acceptance of reasonable men. 



KEVIEW OF HISTOKICAL OBJECTIONS. 237 



CHAPTER XIX. 

REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 

148. The previous objections refer mainly to the 
number of the Israelites at the Exodus, and to their in- 
crease during the Sojourn in Egypt. Their aim is to 
prove that the six hundred thousand whose history is 
given in the Pentateuch had no real existence what- 
ever. The solemn oath of God, '' So I sware in my 
wrath, They shall not enter into my rest," recorded by 
Moses, repeated by the Psalmist, enforced by the 
Apostle, and enshrined by the Church of Christ in her 
constant acts of devout adoration, is thus adjudged to 
be an idle mockery, a profane invention of some Jewish 
forger in some later age ; while the very existence of 
that evil generation on whom the judgment fell is pro- 
nounced to be utterly impossible. Such mighty results 
flow from a table of logarithms in skilful hands, and 
from the last census of England, when duly corrected 
for colonial emigration. 

The objections that remain are scarcely so ambitious. 
They are supposed to prove that the Exodus of the 
Israelites, and the following events, could not have 
occurred in the way, or with the details, described in 
the Books of Moses. I propose to review them briefly 
in order, and to offer a condensed synopsis of the re- 
plies in the previous chapters, with some additional 
remarks. 



238 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

Objection XL The First Passover in Egypt. 

" The whole nnmense population of Israel, as large as 
that of London, was instructed to keep the Passover, 
and actually did keep it, in one single day. For the first 
notice of it contains the words, ' I will pass through 
the land of Egypt this night' ver. 12. It cannot be said 
that this only means on the night of the fourteenth of 
Nisan ; because the word is this, not that : and it is said 
again, ver. 14, ' this day shall be unto you for a me- 
morial.' It is true the story, as it now stands, with its 
directions about taking and kee|)ing the lamb, are per- 
plexing and contradictory ; Ijut this is only one of 
many similar phenomena in these books of the Pen- 
tateuch." 

" Again, the Passover would require 150,000 lambs of 
the first year for sacrifices. But 50,000 he lambs 
besides must be kept for breeding, or else there would 
never be any rams or wethers, but ewe sheep innumer- 
able. This implies 400,000 lambs of the first year, and 
flocks of two millions, and 400,000 acres, or 625 square 
miles of pasture. Over this space the Israelites must 
have been spread when they received the directions, 
twelve hours before the Passover. A command, liow- 
ever, on which life and death depended, could not have 
been given to every household, and obeyed, within 
the twelve hours, nor a second command at midnight 
have started them all in hurried flight to the wil- 
derness." 

Ans, This objection is a strange concentration of 
errors. 

1st. The population, instead of being as large as 
that of London at present, was just a million less. For 
its most probable value is between 1,700,000 and 
1,800,000, and that of London, by the last census, was 
2,803,000. 



KEVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 239 

2nd. The directions in Ex. xii. are clear and plain. 
Early in the month Nisan Moses was told that this 
month, of which the new moon had arrived, was to form 
the first of the Jewish year. On the tenth day lambs 
were to be set apart for the Passover, kept till the 
fourteenth day, slain towards evening, their blood 
sprinkled on the door-posts, the flesh eaten that same 
night, roast with fire ; and the next day, the fifteenth, 
was to be the very day of their long-expected deliver- 
ance. Moses repeated the Divine message to the elders, 
and " the children of Israel went away, and did as the 
Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they." 
They set the lambs apart on the tenth day, slew them 
on the fourteenth, sprinkled the blood on the doorposts, 
ate the flesh in their houses the same night, and went 
out with a high hand on the following day. 

3rd. What the objection affirms " cannot be said " 
cannot be denied without extreme blindness. The 
phrase this night, ver. 12, follows close on the mention of 
that night, ver. 8, and thus explains itself even to the 
English reader. The sense is still clearer in the Hebrew, 
where this use of the .pronoun is frequent and familiar. 
Thus it occurs in Gren. vii. 11, 13, xvii. 23, 26, ren- 
dered the self-same day, meaning the one which has been 
already named just before. Nay, it is used again in 
this same chapter in reference to this same night, by the 
sacred writer himself, so as to make the blunder wholly 
inexcusable : '^ It is a night to be much observed unto 
the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt : 
this is this night of the Lord (Heb.) to be observed 
by the children of Israel in their generations." 
Ex. xii. 42. 

The same phrase recurs in the message of God 
appointing the day of atonement, and given six months, 
instead of a single fortnight, before the actual day : 



240 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

" This shall be a statute for ever unto you : that in the 
seventh month, on the tenth of the month, ye shall 
afflict your souls, &c., &c. For this day shall the priest 
make an atonement for you, to cleanse you." Lev. xvi. 
29, 30. 

The mistake, then, which concludes from the pronoun 
that the message to set apart the lambs on the tenth 
day of the month was not given till the fourteenth, is 
truly amazing. But this is only " one of many similar 
phenomena " which meet us in the course of " The Pen- 
tateuch Examined.'' 

4th. The confirmation of this error, from the mention 
of this day, in ver. 14, is still more amazing ; for the day 
thus mentioned is Nisan 15, ^hiGh. followed the Pass- 
over. This is plain from the words, " For in this day 
(self-same day, E. Y.) have I brought your armies out of 
the land of Egypt ; therefore shall ye observe this day 
in your generations by an ordinance for ever." If ver. 12, 
by the new rule of exposition, proves that the command 
was given only twelve hours before the Passover, then 
verses 14, 17, are a threefold proof that it was given 
twelve hours after it, when the Exodus was past, and 
all the Israelites had set out from Rameses on their 
journey ! This hypothesis is quite as logical as the 
other, has three times the grammatical evidence in its 
favour, and is very little more absurd. 

5th. The reckoning of the flocks required for the 
Passover exceeds the truth, at least as ten to one. At 
Jerusalem, in the time of Josephus, twenty was a fre- 
quent number in a paschal company. More than 
90,000 lambs, then, could not be required for 1,800,000 
souls. One ram for ten ewes, and not one in three, is 
the proportion .in Jacob's present, so that 90,000 sacri- 
fices would imply 200,000 lambs of the year altogether, 
and not 400,000. But it is not clear to common minds, 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 241 

liow, on any hypothesis, in successive years, " there 
would never be any rams or wethers, but ewe sheep 
innumerable." Again, a flock of 100 ewes will give 
100 to 140 lambs in the season, as may be learned from 
any English shepherd. Thus the Passover lambs would 
imply a flock of 140,000 to 200,000, instead of two 
millions, or from 44 to 63 square miles of pasture, 
instead of 625 miles. The ratio of Australia, where 
flocks are kept almost entirely for the wool, can only 
mislead, when applied to the land of Goshen. 

6th. The supposition that the flocks, on the eve of 
the Passover, were left scattered over all their usual 
range of pasture, is wholly groundless. Ten days 
before the Israelites had been charged, " Thus shall ye 
eat it ; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, 
and your staff in your hand ; and ye shall eat it in 
haste." What can be plainer than that every possible 
preparation for a speedy departure was to have been 
previously made ? 

7th. The Bible knows nothing, and says nothing, of 
" a hurried flight." The fear and eagerness of the 
Egyptians hastened the Israelites at the last moment. 
In all other respects the Exodus was the deliberate 
result of months of hope and growing expectation ; 
w^hile the exact date had been revealed to the whole 
congregation ten days, or perhaps a fortnight, before. 
Every part of the objection, then, directly reverses the 
real statements of the text. 

149. Objection XII. The March from Egypt. 

" We are required to believe that, in one single day, 
the order to start was communicated suddenly, at mid- 
night, to every town and village through a tract as 
large as Hertfordshire, but ten times as thickly peopled ; 
that they came in from all parts of the land of Goshen 
to Rameses, bringing with them the sick and infirm, the 

R 



242 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

young and aged ; that, after receiving the summons, 
they had sent out to gather in all their flocks and herds, 
and driven them also to Eameses ; and lastly, that 
having done this since they were roused at midnight, 
they were started again at Eameses the same day, and 
marched on to Succoth, not leaving a single sick or in- 
firm person, a single woman in child-birth, or even 
a single hoof behind them. This is, undoubtedly, 
what the story in the Book of Exodus requires us to 
beheve !" 

Ans. This is indeed a prodigious assertion. Let us 
examine it in detail. 

1st. First, in general, this is undoubtedly what the 
Bible narrative does not require us to beheve. But it 
does require us to believe, m nlmost every particular, 
the exact reverse. 

2nd. The urgent entreaty of the Egyptians, it is 
true, was after the midnight of the Passover. But the 
Divine direction, when they were to start, and to have 
everything in readiness for starting quickly, even to 
the very staff in their hand, had been plainly given by 
Moses to the elders, and by the elders to all the people, 
at least ten days, and possibly a fortnight, before. — 
Ex. xii. 8, 11, 12, 17, 28, 29. 

3rd. " The story in Exodus " does not require us to 
believe that the people were still scattered all over 
Goshen. But it does require us to believe that most of 
them were gathered in or near Eameses, in hourly ex- 
pectation of a signal from Moses and the elders, when 
to set out on the journey to Succoth. 

4th. It does not require us to beheve that they sent 
out, in hurried haste, to bring in the sick and infirm. 
But it does inform us, " He brought them forth also with 
silver and gold : there was not one feeble person among 
their tribes." Ps. cv. 37. 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 243 

5th. The other difficulties all turn on the prepos- 
terous denial of what the text so plainly affirms, that 
the notice of the time of departure had been five days 
at the very least, but probably a full fortnight earlier. 
To start objections, which must be mere guess-work, 
about details in the order and line of march, which are 
not revealed, when even the exact position of Eameses 
is uncertain, is little else than a climax of sceptical folly. 

150. Objection XIII. — The Tents of the Israel- 
ites. 

"The law in Lev. xxiii. 43, is to this effect, * That 
your generations may know that I made the children of 
Israel to dwell in booths^ when I brought them out of 
the land of Egypt.' This conflicts strangely with the 
mention of tents, Ex. xvi. 16. It cannot be said 
that the word booths means tents, for the Hebrew word 
for a booth is quite different from that for a tent used in 
Ex. xvi. 16. But there is not the slightest indication 
in the story that they ever dwelt in booths, nor is it 
conceivable when they could have done so. It cannot 
be supposed that, in the hurry and confusion of this 
flight, they had time to cut down boughs and bushes to 
make booths of. Again, 2,000,000 of persons would 
need at least 200,000 tents : how did they acquire them ? 
— how could they have carried them ? — what a prodi- 
gious number of trained oxen would have been needed. 
One might carry four, but this would require 50,000 
oxen, and these could not^ or would not, if untrained." 

Ans. — 1st. A horse and a quadruped are not the 
same word : they are quite different words, and still a 
horse is a quadruped. Booth is not the same word 
with tents, and still booths may be tents of a particular 
kind : for even the houses in Palestine are called tents 
very many times. Deut. xvi. 7, Josh. xxii. 4, 6, 8, Jud. 
vii. 8, xix. 9, 1 Sam. iv. 10, &c., &c. 

R 2 



244 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

2nd. The sacred history gives not a sHght, but a very 
strong indication, that the Israehtes did really make use 
of booths in departing from Egypt. Succoth, in Gilead, 
received its name because Jacob, returning to Canaan, 
made booths (succoth) there for his cattle. So, too, the 
station of the Israelites, between Eameses, where most 
of them were in houses, Ex. xii. 7, and Etham, on the 
edge of the wilderness, where probably the use of 
regular tents must have begun, is called Succoth (booths). 
This is a very plain and clear sign that the words of 
the law were true of that stage of their journey. Those 
who will not believe any saying of the Lawgiver of 
Israel without a separate voucher may find, in the very 
name of the station, which is evidently Hebrew and 
not Egyptian, a fuU pledge of the truth of the state- 
ment. 

3rd. There were wagons as well as oxen in the 
camp of Israel. Num. vii. How many or how few we 
are not told, nor has the Holy Spirit thought it needful 
to tell us what was the average weight of the tents, or 
how many they would hold. The objection, then, is made 
altogether in the dark, and is altogether worthless. 

4th. The word of God knows nothing of *' the hurry 
and confusion of a flight." It speaks of a triumphal 
Exodus, like the march of a victorious army, enriched 
with the spoils of vanquished enemies ; a march delibe- 
rately planned, and then accomplished, under the special 
guidance of the God of Israel. "The children of Israel 
went out with a high hand." " Egypt was glad at their 
departing, for they were afraid of them." 

151. Objection XI Y. — The Arms of the Israelites. 

" The word rendered harnessed, Exod. xiii. 18, appears 
to mean armed, or in battle array, in all other passages 
where it occurs. They must have had arms when they 
fought with Amalek, and the whole body possessed 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 245 

arms, surely, according to the story, when they were 
numbered. But it is inconceivable that these oppressed 
people should have been allowed by Pharaoh to possess 
arms, so as to turn out at a moment's notice 600,000 
armed men. Would they not, in that case, have risen 
long ago for their liberty ? Besides, the warriors, in 
Egypt were a distinct caste. How, then, could they 
have been in such panic terror when the Egyptians 
pursued them ? If the veracity of this part of the 
Pentateuch is to be maintained, we must believe that 
600,000 armed men, though it is inconceivable how 
they obtained their arms, had become so debased and 
inhuman in their cowardice, though they fought bravely 
enough with Amalek a month afterwards, that they 
could not strike a single blow for their wives and chil- 
dren, but only weakly wail and murmur against 
Moses." 

Ans. 1st. The word harnessed, cJiamushim, by its close 
relation to chameshim, fifty, or chamesh, five, means 
naturally, marshalled, disposed in fifties, or in battle 
array. This is an idea near akin to armed, but plainly 
does not include, as of course, the possession of armour. 
Soldiers may learn military drill, and march in military 
array, without having a full supply of weapons. 

2nd. The objection assumes that all the host must 
have had arms, or else none. Either of the two alter- 
natives is almost equally unnatural. If one in twenty 
were provided with them, and these were unpractised 
in the use of them, all the supposed contradictions 
disappear. Even forty years later, at the Conquest, 
about one in three only seem to have been armed, since 
40,000 of the Eastern tribes, out of 110,000, passed over 
Jordan as fighting men. 

3rd. The Egyptian warriors were a distinct caste. 
But it is a wholly absurd inference, that 600,000 



246 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

Israelites, living mainly in Groslien, which was filled 
with them, could therefore have procured no weapons 
whatever. It is equally strange to suppose that those 
who conld build the Tabernacle were too unskilful to 
make for themselves either shields or spears, even during 
their journey. 

4th. The panic terror of the Israelites was before the 
destruction of Pharaoh ; the fight with Amalek was a 
month after. Most persons will judge that the different 
conduct of the people in the two cases is sufficiently 
explained by this one fact alone. Even brave men, 
used to fighting, are liable to astonishing panics, when 
taken by surprise, and encumbered with a crowd of 
cowards, women, and children. How much more is 
it likely that captives, just freed from bondage by no 
efforts or courage of their own, should faint with fear, 
when the king whose power and tyranny they had felt 
for years was seen pursuing them with all his warriors ! 
Those who imagine they have a more profound know- 
ledge of human nature than the word of God will soon 
or late be signally undeceived. 

152. Objection XY. — The Camp and Tabernacle. 

" The * whole congregation ' could not collect, as they 
are often told to do, at the door of the tabernacle, or 
have been able to witness the consecration of Aaron. 
Arranged in front of it, they would have reached 
100,000 feet, or nearly twenty miles. The refuse of 
the sacrifices, also, could not have been carried out by 
the pr-iest, as he was commanded, to the skirts of the 
camp. For this would be at least three-fourths of a 
mile, or if the camp were a square of twelve miles, as 
Scott and others suppose, it would be six miles. We 
have to imagine the priest having himself to carry, on 
his back on foot, from St. Paul's to the skirts of the 
metropolis, ' the skin, the flesh, head, legs, inwards and 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 247 

dung, even the whole bullock,' and the people having 
to carry out their rubbish, and bring in their supplies of 
water and fuel, the same distance. The supposition 
involves an absurdity, but it is our duty to look plain 
facts in the face." , 

Ans. 1st. " The whole congregation" is unwarrantably 
confined to the one sense, " all the people, without any 
exception," or even " the main body, with few exceptions." 
By the usual laws of language it may equally mean — the 
whole people by representation, that is, by selected depu- 
ties or elders, as Num. xxxv. 25 ; or else — any who please, 
with no formal exclusion, as if our Queen should invite 
all her subjects to witness a review or public distribution 
of medals ; or lastly — those who are actually gathered 
from time to time, as when the whole congregation 
murmured in Rephidim. To exclude these meanings, 
and reason on that assumption, does equal violence to 
Scripture and common sense. 

2nd. A command to assemble at the door of the Taber- 
nacle is not precisely the same thing as a direction to 
form a narrow line of people, like a railway, twenty 
miles to the east. It is hard to conceive how such pure 
nonsense could be mistaken for argument. 

3rd. If the Tabernacle were pitched conveniently for 
the purpose, opposite a slightly rising ground, the whole 
congregation, in the strictest sense, and with no great 
crowding, might have witnessed the ceremony from a 
distance of five or six hundred yards, as has been easily 
proved. 

4th. The camp was not a solid square or cube. Each 
tribe had its own camp, distinct from all the others. 
Num. ii. 1-32, and there were plainly spaces between 
them. The camp of the 22,000 Levites, to which the 
direction about the sacrifices would apply, was probably 
less than half a mile from side to side, and the Tabernacle 



248 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

near its western border: Eacli camp must probably 
have bad a site selected for its own refuse, etc., within 
easy distance. 

5th. The assertion that the priest had to carry the 
whole bullock on his back and on foot, either three- 
fourths of a mile, or six miles, is " only one of many 
similar phenomena " that we meet with in " The Penta- 
teuch Examined ;" though it seems to bear away the 
palm from all the rest for its grotesque absurdity. It 
can be proved from the text, when it has been also 
proved that Joseph begged the chief butler to carry him 
on his back out of the prison ; and that King David 
actually carried away " on his back, on foot," all the 
spoil and the people of the cities of the children of 
Ammon, Gen. xl. 14, 1 Chron. xx. 3. 

153. Objection XYI. The Sheep and Cattle of 
THE Israelites. 

" There was no miraculous provision for the herds and 
flocks. It is certain that the story represents them as 
possessing these during the whole forty years. For in 
the second year Moses asks — ' Shall the flocks and the 
herds be slain for them to suffice them ?' And in the 
fortieth year we read — ' The children of Reuben and the 
children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle.' 
This, it is true, was after the spoil of the Midianites ; 
but that was divided among all the people ; and there- 
fore these tribes must have been so noted before the 
plunder of the Midianites. Accordingly at the end of 
the first year they kept the Passover under Mount 
Sinai, and therefore must have had two millions of 
sheep and oxen. It cannot be pretended that the state 
of the country has undergone any material change from 
that time to this ; for it was then described as a desert 
land, a waste howling wilderness." 

Arts. 1st. The words of Moses, quoted to prove that 



EEVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 249 

tliey had numerous flocks and herds early in the second 
year, prove just the reverse. They are as follows : 
" The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thou- 
sand footmen ; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, 
that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and 
the herds be slain for them to suffice them ? or shall all 
the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to 
suffice them ?" The plain meaning is. How can the 
promise be fulfilled, when we have no flocks and herds 
that could give such a supply, and the fish of the sea 
are far away ? If the people had immense flocks and 
herds at the time, the miracle would be superfluous, and 
their murmuring not only sinful, but ridiculous. When 
they complained, " Our soul is dried away ; there is 
nothing but this manna before our eyes," Moses might 
well have answered them in the words of Samuel, " What 
meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, 
and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ?" 

2nd. The second proof, in the fortieth year, is no less 
unfortunate. First, it follows the capture of 675,000 
sheep from the Midianites. These were shared, it is 
true, among all the tribes, but there was nothing to 
hinder the Eeubenites and Gradites from buying most of 
their share from the others. But, what is strangely 
overlooked in the objection, it was after the conquest 
of all Gilead and Bashan, when all the cattle of those 
districts was taken for a prey ! 

3rd. The only other proof is the Passover at Sinai. 
Now, first, this implies a flock only at most from 140,000 
to 200,000, instead of two millions, a difference of more 
than ten to one. But since the number required de- 
pended on the size of the companies, of which we are 
sure that they might be as large as twenty, but have no 
proof they might not be &Ye or even ten times larger, a 
flock of 28,000 to 40,000, or even of half the number, 



260 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

might, for aught we can tell, have provided lambs 
enough for a memorial service. 

4th. There is no proof that all the desert was as sterile 
in the days of Moses as it is now, and several presump- 
tions for a different view. Moses was pasturing the 
flock of Jethro near to Horeb, when he received his 
commission. The barrenness of Palestine, once so 
fertile, must have reacted on the desert, by lessening 
the amount of rain in the whole district. We cannot 
tell, also, how long the miraculous supply of water 
lasted, or how far it reached. If long continued, it 
would greatly increase the amount of herbage. A work 
which confounds the wilderness of Zin or Kadesh, 
Num. XX., with "the Sinai tic waste " (p. 126), is ill-suited 
to decide on questions of this kind. Baron Bunsen, 
with little inore regard for the authority of Scripture 
than is shewn in " The Pentateuch Examined," takes 
on this subject a diametrically opposite view. He 
writes as follows : — 

" It is quite evident that things were then in a very 
different state, inhabited as the country was by warlike 
and powerful Arab races, and when the Pharaohs had 
established Egyptian colonies there for many centuries. 
A few thousand years of neglect and devastation are 
enough to bring a country into its actual stat^ of deso- 
lation. There is no want either of springs or brooks, 
or cultivable soil ; but the former are wasted in morasses 
or sand, and the latter is swept away by the violence of 
torrents, where nothing is supplied by the hand of 
man ; whereas the construction of terraces and dykes 
not only preserves a supply of water and soil, but im- 
proves and increases them. It was this which made 
Yemen, centuries before Moses (?), the Paradise of 
Arabia, and laid the foundation for a mighty empire, 
which disappeared from the earthy when the dams were 



REYIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 251 

broken tlirougli. There is authentic evidence of this in 
the inscriptions lately discovered. The two countries 
are similar in every respect " (Buns. Egypt, iii. pp. 328, 
329). 

This statement possibly errs as much from the truth 
on the other side. But the contrast in the two lines of 
opposition to the truth of Scripture is very instructive. 
One writer thinks the desert was then fruitful enough 
to enable the Israelites to subsist there three or four 
years without any miracle. The other seems to 
maintain that its sterility was so extreme, as to make it 
impossible for God himself, even by daily miracles, to 
sustain them. 

154. Objection XVII. The First Census and the 
Atonement Money. 

" The expression, the shekel of the sanctuary, could 
hardly have been used in this way, till the sanctuary 
had been some time in existence, and the phrase had 
become familiar. Whereas it is here put into the mouth 
of Jehovah, speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, six 
months before the Tabernacle was made. 

" It is surprising that the number of the adult males 
should be identically the same on the first occasion as it 
was half a year afterwards." 

Ans. 1st. That the Divine Lawgiver of Israel could 
neither appoint a standard weight and measure to be 
kept at the sanctuary, nor refer to his own appoint- 
ment until the people had long become familiar with 
the use of them, is by no means a self-evident truth. 

2nd. A forger who should " put into the mouth of 
Jehovah " laws He never gave, and words He never 
spoke, addressed to a people who never existed, after 
first " putting into His mouth " the command " Thou 
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, 
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his 



252 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

name in vain," would be a deceiver worthy the execra- 
tion of mankind. And if all the time ' ' he had no 
more consciousness of doing wrong', or practising de- 
ception, than Homer " in writing the Iliad, he is ac- 
quitted of awful blasphemy, only by degrading him 
into a stupid and immoral idiot. 

3rd. It is not surprising that the numbers should be 
the same, when the text only speaks of one numbering 
at the commencement of the journey, and one offering 
of atonement money in connection with it. 

4th. It is not surprising, if the Census had reference 
to the Jewish new year's day, in which the Tabernacle 
was reared, that it should be finished, to the nearest 
hundred in each tribe, a month previous, and summed 
up with a distinct reference to each tribe, a month 
after it, when the arrangement of the camps, and those 
for the order of march, had to be made. 

5th. The male births per month in each tribe 
would be, on the average, slightly more than a hundred, 
and the deaths^ in the wilderness, nearly the same. 
Hence, if the atonement money was to be used about a 
month before the proper date, and the results to be 
made use of about a month after, a reckoning to the 
nearest hundred is the natural limit, where real accuracy 
would cease, unless the numbering were strictly simul- 
taneous. 

155. Objection XVIII. The Duties oe the Priests 
IN the Wilderness. 

^' How was it possible that two or three men shall 
have discharged all these duties for such a vast mul- 
titude ? The single work of offering the double sacri- 
fice for women after childbirth must have utterly over- 
powered them, though engaged without cessation from 
morning to night. The births would be at least 250 a 
day, and require 42 hours, or more than twelve daiiy 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 253 

for eacli of the three priests. It cannot be said that 
the laws which require the sacrifice of turtle doves or 
pigeons were intended only for a later time, when the 
people were settled in the land of Canaan. For in 
Levit. xiv. where the camp is named, and the tent of 
the leper, these birds are required. But in the desert 
it would be equally impossible for rich or poor to 
procure them." 

Arts. 1st. The true purpose of the laws of sacrifice, &c. 
is stated at least five times. " When ye be come into 
the land of your habitation^ which I give unto you." 
Num. XV. 2. " Behold, I have taught you statutes and 
judgments, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go 
to possess itr Deut. iv. 5. " And the Lord commanded 
me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, 
that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess 
ity iv. 14. " Stand thou here before me, and I will 
speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, 
and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that 
they may do them in the land which I give them to possess 
it." V. 31. " Ye shall not do after all that we do here 
this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own 
eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to 
the inheritance, which the Lord your Grod giveth you." 
xii. 8, 9. It is strange indeed, if that " cannot be 
said " which the text itself says five times over in 
explicit terms. 

2nd. The law of childbirth required an offering 
thirty-three days after circumcision had been performed. 
But the children in the wilderness were not circum- 
cised. Josh. V. 1-9, and therefore, plainly, in the wilder- 
ness the law was not put in force. 

3rd. If it had been in force, the births would be only 
about 120 daily, instead of " 250 at least." The time 
required for the priest's part in the sacrifice, which 



254 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

has been carelessly confounded with the offerer's, was 
more nearly half a minute than G.Ye minutes ; so that 
instead of forty-two, the whole might probably have 
been done, if necessary, in two hours daily. 

4th. The Psalmist says, " Oh, that I had wings like a 
dove ! Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the 
wilderness." Psa. Iv. 6, 7. Solomon thus apostrophizes 
the bride : " my dove, that art in the clefts of the 
rock," Cant. ii. 14 ; and the prophet Obadiah describes 
the dwellings of Edom in these words : " The pride of 
thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the 
clefts of the rock." ver. 3. The camp of Israel, during 
the thirty-eight years, could seldom have been more than 
sixty miles from this rocky range of Edom, or a similar 
one more southward, and was often at less than half 
the distance. In the face of these facts, it is a bold 
assertion, that these doves or pigeons must all the time 
have been dearer than lambs, and that it was " impos- 
sible for either rich or poor to procure them." 

5th. The exclusion of the lepers was put in force in 
the desert, by God's express command. Hence the or- 
dinance about their cleansing was probably applicable 
at once, if any were cleansed in the wilderness. But 
the only case we know of is that of Miriam, and in her 
case the provision for the poor would certainly not 
apply. Let us assume, however, that a score or even a 
hundred were cleansed during the forty years, and all 
of the poorer class. It would indeed be a prodigy if, 
all that time, no doves or pigeons were either to be 
caught or bought, within an hour's flight, and one or 
two days' journey, of the clefts of the rocks, where 
these birds delight to haunt, and where the Edomites 
had their dwelling. The objection requires a negative 
miracle, the reverse of that of the quails, to keep these 
birds from ever approaching the camp of Israel. 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 255 

156. Objection XIX. The Provision for the 
Priests in the Wilderness. 

'^ The directions in Lev. vii. are given in the story 
before Aaron and bis sons were consecrated. Hence 
they must be considered as intended to apply to tbem, 
while the camp was in the wilderness, as well as to the 
sons of Aaron in future generations. But what an 
enormous provision was this for Aaron and his two 
sons and their families ! The whole of the sin offerings, 
trespass offerings, and meat offerings, except a handful, 
to be eaten only by the three males in the most holy 
place ! The very pigeons, to be brought as sin offer- 
ings after the birth of children, would have been, 
according to the story, 264 a day, and each priest 
would have had to eat more than eighty-eight for 
his own portion daily, ' in the most holy place !' " 

Ans. 1st. This " enormous provision " consisted of 
three things. First, of the sin offerings and trespass 
offerings of the common people, at the time when God 
assures us, by the prophet Amos, that " slain beasts 
and sacrifices " were not offered. Amos v. 25. Secondly, 
of all the meat offerings of flour, " except a handful," 
at a time when they lived on manna, because there were 
no supplies of corn. Thirdly, of the turtle doves or 
pigeons brought as sin-offerings by Jewish mothers, 
thirty-three days after the circumcision of their infant 
children, at a time when none of those children were 
circumcised ! Josh. v. 5, 7. 

2nd. The births, " according to" the parody of " the 
story," were just 264 a day in the wilderness, because 
that is the average of London " for a week taken at 
random, Sept. 3, 1862," p. 62. According to the data 
of the Pentateuch itself, they would be about 120 daily, 
or less than half the " random " number. 

3rd. The place where the sacrifices were to be eaten 



256 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

was " the holy place, the court of the tabernacle." 
Lev. vi. 26. The repeated assertion, that it was 
" in the most holy place " seems plainly meant to 
give the impression, that it was the Holy of holies. 
This is too much like wilful irreverence towards the 
especial symbol of God's holiness, the type of the 
heaven of glory. The only text which even seemxs to 
warrant it is Num. xviii. 10. But a collation of the 
texts makes it very probable that the Hebrew preposition 
has the same force as in Exod. vi. 3, and other places. 
" ^5 most holy," or [' under the character of most holy, thou 
shalt eat it ;" just as, " I appeared to them as,'' or " under 
the character of, God Almighty." The suggestion that 
Aaron and his sons were obliged, by the law of God, to 
eat eighty-eight pigeons apiece daily in the Holy of 
holies, is a strange compound of bad arithmetic, falsi- 
fied history, and mournful irreverence. 

157. Objection XX. The Cities or the Priests if 
Canaan. 

" For this small number of persons there are provided 
thirteen cities and other suburbs ; all in the immediate 
neighbourhood of Jerusalem, where the temple was built, 
and where the especial presence of the priests was 
required, but in a later age, Scott writes that ' the 
family of Aaron could not at this time have been very 
numerous ! though it had increased considerably ! 
since his appointment to the priesthood. Yet thirteen 
cities were allotted to it, in the Divine knowledge of 
its future enlargement. For we have reason to think 
that no other family increased so much in proportion 
after Israel's departure from Egypt as that of Aaron.' 
The only conceivable reason for thinking so, is the 'fact 
that thirteen cities were assigned them. We do not find 
the sons of Aaron numerous in the time of the Judges, or 
in Eli's time, or David's, or Solomon's, except indeed in 



REVIEW OF HIISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 257 

the record of the chronicler. Aaron himself had only 
two sons living, and one of these had only one son." 

A71S. 1st. That Phinehas only is mentioned by name is 
no proof at all that Eleazar had only one son. We 
might as well infer that Solomon had only one son, 
Rehoboam, by all his many wives. 

2nd. That the Cities of the Priests were in the tribes 
of Judah and Benjamin, is a certain fact, whatever its 
cause. The foresight of the God of Israel in their 
original appointment, with reference to a thousand 
years of temple worship, is a full and adequate expla- 
nation. A forger in the times of Hezekiah or Josiah 
might invent things long before, but could not invent 
at will the priestly cities. On the sceptical hypothesis, 
then, the fact is wholly unexplained. Besides, the 
intimate relation of Aaron's family and the tribe of 
Judah, is foreshadowed from the first. Eleazar was 
the grandson of Amminadab, and nephew of Nahshon, 
the prince of that tribe. 

3rd. '^ We do not find the family of Aaron numerous " 
in books that say nothing about their number, and 
hardly allude to the priestly duties ; nor " except in 
the record of the chronicler," that is, the only historical 
books of Scripture which treat of that subject. But 
there we do read such statements as these : " And 
Jehoiada was the leader of the Aaronites, and with him 
were three thousand seven hundred. And Zadok, a 
young man mighty of valour, and of his father's house 
twenty and two captains." We do not find the English 
clergy numerous in the history of the Peninsular cam- 
paigns, or of the War of American Independence. To 
draw negative conclusions from the silence of a brief 
history of other matters, is most absurd. 

158. Objection XXI. The Passover in the Wilder- 
ness. 

s 



258 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

" How did these three priests manage at its celebra- 
tion ? Each must have had to sprinkle the blood of 
50,000 lambs in two hours, or at the rate of four hun- 
dred a minute. Under Hezekiah and Josiah, when it 
was desired to keep the Passover strictly, ' in such sort 
as it was written,' the lambs were killed in the Court of 
the Temple. We must suppose, then, that the Paschal 
lambs in the wilderness were killed in the Court of the 
Tabernacle, in accordance, in fact, with the strict in- 
junctions of the Levitical law about all burnt offerings, 
sin offerings, peace offerings, and trespass offerings. 
The time allowed was in fact the time of twilight, and 
cannot therefore have been more than two hours : and 
so writes Josephus. The imperative demand (of which 
Dr. Kurtz speaks) that the camp at the city where the 
tabernacle was, should be used for " a second and more 
extensive forecourt" arises only from the utter im- 
possibility of the story, as told in the Pentateuch." 
'' Can anything be more plain than the language of 
2 Chron. xxx. 16. ' And they stood in their place, 
after their manner, according to the law of Moses, the 
man of God : the Priests sprinkled the blood from the 
hand of the Levites ?' It is certainly true that the 
references to the Passover, in the books of Exodus and 
Numbers, do not appear to imply in any way that the 
Priests were called into action in the celebration of this 
feast. But that very circumstance occasions one of ihe 
greatest of the difficulties. For how is this fact to be 
explained, in the face of the very solemn injunction in 
Lev. xvii. ? What is gained in one direction by sup- 
pressing the mention of the Priests at the Second Pass- 
over, is lost in the other." 

Ans. This is, perhaps, the most astonishing specimen 
of historical criticism ever published. The " chronicler," 
who is held unworthy of the least credit, when he reports 



EEVIEW OF HISTOETCAL OBJECTIONS. 259 

tlie actual number of the priests under David, is to be 
more than believed, wlien be tells us tliat the priests of 
Hezekiah sprinkled the blood of the Passover on the 
altar, while they intended to keep it ^' in such sort as it 
was written." We are to infer from his words, that 
this and every detail of that temple service were of im- 
perative obligation in the wilderness, where the taber- 
nacle court was far inferior in size ; that, consequently, 
the Passover law was impossible and absurd from the 
first, and that the very celebration which occasioned the 
law for keeping it in the second month, on which Heze- 
kiah, the priests, and the people, based their whole ser- 
vice, was a fiction, a legend, and a forgery ! The weight 
of the coat of Groliath was five thousand shekels, and 
the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. " Ac- 
cording to the story," they were always of this weight, 
and never of any other. He must have worn them 
from his cradle, and their enormous weight would cer- 
tainly have crushed him to death. Therefore it is cer- 
tain that the giant never couJd have survived the perils 
of his infancy, and the whole account of him and his 
armour is a mere figment. 

But let us examine the ingredients of this won- 
derful reasoning. The objection is like the children 
in the market-places, and the account in Numbers 
cannot please either way. If it had affirmed that 
Aaron and his two sons sprinkled the blood of all the 
lambs, it would have been, it is thought, " an utter im- 
possibility," and it is called so still, though not a word is 
said on the subject. But that is a second fault on the 
other side, and occasions the greatest perplexity, since 
it would require us to suppose that a very plain law 
was broken. I reply, doubly, to this double objection. 
First, there is no proof that the blood of the Paschal 
lambs was sprinkled, or was bound to be sprinkled, on 

s 2 



200 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

the altar in the wilderness. And next, there is no 
proof that, if required, it might not easily be done. 

1st. It is plain that the text does not allude, in a 
single word, to any such ceremony, as really practised 
at this second Passover. 

2nd. It is clear that this rite did not and could not 
occur at the first Passover in Egypt, before the taber- 
nacle and altar were built. Eight hundred years later, 
three hundred years after the temple was built, is our 
next precedent or guide to the actual usage, and then 
the victims were slain in the temple court, and the 
blood sprinkled by the priests. Which is the more 
reasonable guide to the usage at the second Passover 
— the known usage just one year before, or the usage 
after eight centuries, when there was a large temple 
court, and numerous priests ? Precedents usually precede 
an event, and do not follow it, especially after eight 
hundred years. 

3rd. What proof is there that the laws about burnt 
offerings at the voluntary will of the offerer, and the 
similar commands, Lev. i., v., include the Passover, 
which is never named in them, and was not a voluntarv 
offering, nor yet a sin or trespass offering ? 

4th. What proof is there that the law in Lev. xvii. in- 
cluded the Passover, when it expressly refers to sacri- 
fices at the choice of individual Israelites, and its reason 
was to hinder them from offering those sacrifices to 
devils in the open field ? 

5th. What proof is there that it was even in being ? 
For it could have been given, at earliest, only one week 
before this Passover, and might have been a fortnight or 
three weeks later. 

6th. What proof is there that the priests of Hezekiah 
supposed the sprinkling of the blood by the priests on 
the altar to have been binding in the wilderness ? For 



REVIEW OP HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 261 

their purpose to keep it " in such sort as it was written " 
refers to a wholly different matter, its observance by all 
the tribes " from Beersheba to Dan," which had never 
occurred since the schism of Jeroboam. 

7th. What proof is there, even if in this rite they aimed 
to keep it " as it was written," that the writing followed 
was that of Moses ? For we have express mention, 
also, of " the commandment of David, and of Gad, the 
king's seer, and Nathan the prophet." 2 Chron. xxix. 
25, and again, that they observed it under Josiah " ac- 
cording to the writing of David king of Israel, and 
according to the writing of Solomon his son." xxxv. 4. 

8th. What proof is there, even in Hezekiah's passover, 
that the sprinkling of the blood by the priests extended 
to all the lambs, and not simply to those slain by the 
Levites for Israelites not sanctified, a deviation from 
the letter of the law ? For the passage reads thus : 
" The priests sprinkled the blood from the hand of the 
Levites. For many in the congregation were not sanc- 
tified ; therefore the Levites had the charge of \\iq 
killing of the Passovers for every one that was not clean, 
to sanctify them unto the Lord. For a multitude of the 
people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, had not 
cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover 
otherwise than it was w itten!' 2 Chron. xxx. 16-18. So 
completely does the proof fail at every point, that the 
sprinkling of the blood of the lambs by a priest on 
the altar was a binding law in the wilderness. 

159. Let us now see how the case stands on the other 
alternative. 

1st. Josephus does not say that the time was that of 
twilight, but the exact reverse ; that it was from 3 p.m. 
to 5 P.M. or 6 P.M., as we expound his hours to be current 
or complete. 

2nd. Josephus does not prove that 150,000 lambs would 



262 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

be required, that is, an average of twelve persons to 
each company. For he says that ten is the least number 
allowed, and that there were often twenty; so that, even 
from the usage when lambs were plentiful and priests 
numerous, 90,000 would be the largest number that 
could be really requisite. 

3rd. There is no maximum for the companies in the 
Pentateuch itself. The traditional law of the Jews is 
that each must be able to take " the size of an olive 
berry." Hence, in case of need, from the fewness of 
lambs or priests, 100 or 150 might form a company, 
and 12,000 lambs be all that would be absolutely 
required. 

4th. The law in Lev. xvii., the chief warrant for the 
rite, if it were really practised, only required the victim 
to be brought near the door of the tabernacle. If the 
court were full already, it could only require the victim 
to be slain somewhere in front of the tabernacle, near 
to the door or entrance of the court. 

5th. More than eight thousand Levites were given to 
Aaron and his sons, '' to do the service of the burden of 
the tabernacle of the congregation." If any recent law 
of God made it needful for the blood of many lambs, 
whether twenty or a hundred thousand, to be sprinkled 
within two hours on the altar, or poured out at its side, 
it is self-evident that the burdensome part of the service 
would be done by the Levites under the instruction of 
Aaron and Moses. The rite, if appointed at all, must 
have been added to the first institution, to make it still 
more sacred and solemn, and not to degrade it into a 
Babel of confusion and irreverence. 

The whole objection, then, is doubly futile. If the 
rite of sprinkling the blood of the Passovers on the 
altar was then in force, it is self-evident that Moses 
and Aaron would make provision for its being done in 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 263 

a solemn and reverent way, without unnatural crowd- 
ing in the court of the tabernacle, or burdensome and 
menial work for the priests. But there is no hint 
whatever in the text, and no proof from any other 
source, that this rite was in force so early in the 
wilderness. 

160. Objection XXII. — The War with Midian. 

" How thankful we must be that we are no longer 
required to believe, as a matter of fact, of vital import- 
ance to our eternal hope, the story in Num. xxxi. ; 
where we are told that a force of 12,000 Israelites slew 
all the males of the Midianites, took captive all the 
females and children, seized all their cattle and flocks, 
and all theirgoods, and burnt all their castles, without 
the loss of a single man ; and then, by command of 
Moses, butchered in cold blood the women and children, 
except the women children. The tragedy of Cawnpore, 
where 300 were butchered, would sink into nothing, 
compared with such a massacre, if indeed we were 
required to believe it. The 48,000 females must have 
represented as many males, all of whom, in that case, 
we must believe to have been killed, their property 
pillaged, and towns destroyed, by 12,000 Israelites, 
who must have carried oif 100,000 captives, and driven 
before them 808,000 head of cattle, without the loss of 
a single man !" 

Ans, 1st. The moral and historical objections have 
here one common root, and destroy each other. The 
fact that not one Israelite perished would be highly im- 
probable, and almost incredible, if this were a common 
war. Not so if it were a judicial act, the execution, by 
Divine command, of Grod's own sentence on iniquity. 

2nd. Those who are thankful to be freed from 
the necessity of believing God's words to be true, 
especially God's judgments on sin, have a Tempter at 



264 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

tlieir side, who is sure to keep them well supplied with 
such causes of perverse thanksgiving. 

3rd. Those who assure us that " it is the Devil, the 
Slanderer, the accuser of Grod and of the brethren, who 
teaches us to connect the idea of a curse with death," and 
that we " ought to make light of it," (Colenso on Romans, 
pp. 145, 147,) ought, on their own principles, to suspect 
the great Slanderer of being busily at work, when the 
death of the Midianites, after tempting Israel to aggra- 
vated sin, is made the warrant for inveighing fiercely, as 
cold-blooded butchery and massacre, against one of the 
sore, but righteous judgments of Grod. If death, even 
" to those who have lived all their lives long, and died, 
hardened in impenitence," is " but the gate through 
which their Lord and Master calls them to himself," why 
should Moses be maligned, or rather the Lord and Master 
whom he obeyed, for opening the gate to these im- 
penitent Midianites a little wider than usual ? 

4th. The word of God has done far more than all 
human philosophy to raise woman from physical degra- 
dation to honour and social influence. But when 
women become ringleaders in tempting others to 
idolatry and lust, it is well to be taught that the weak- 
ness of their sex avails nothing to shield them from 
a full share in the righteous judgments of Grod. 

5th. The sword on the Midianites, and the pestilence 
on Israel, are either acts of God's judicial visitation on 
sin, or they are not, biit only acts of simple kindness. 
If the latter, which is the theory elsewhere maintained, 
then surely it must be " the Devil, the Slanderer, the 
accuser of God," who gave its moral tinge and colour- 
ing to this virulent defamation of the word of God. 
But if they are judgments of God, to reject them as 
wholly false, and to denounce them as hoiTid butcheries, 
are only two forms of the same blasphemy, and must 



REVIEW OF HISTORICAL OBJECTIONS. 265 

bring those who practise it under that severe and 
solen3n warning, " Shall he that eontendeth with the 
Almighty instruct him ? He that reproveth God, let 
him answer it ! " 

161. Objection XXIII. The Events of the Last 
Year. 

" But it may be well at once to show that the narra- 
tive, as it now stands, is unhistorical here as else- 
whei'e. From the first day of the fifth month, when 
Aaron died, to the conquest of Og, the king of Bashan, 
we cannot reckon less altogether than six months, and 
even then the events will have been crowded one upon 
another in a most astonishing and really impossible 
manner. We are thus brought to the very day on 
which Moses is said to have addressed the people on 
the plains of Moab. And now what room is there for 
all the other events ; the march forward to the plains 
of Moab ; Balak's sending twice for Balaam, his journey 
and prophesyings, the abode in Shittim, the death of 
24,000 by the plague, the second numbering, and the 
war with Midian. It must have required a month or 
six weeks for such a transaction alone." 

Ans. The crowding of the events, by the proposed 
distribution of them, in a most astonishing and really 
incredible way, will be found to consist in these suppo- 
sitions. 

1st. That Arad and the Canaanites did not begin to 
attack the Israelites when they " came by the way of 
the spies," or advanced northwards towards their 
border, but when they had retired some distance to the 
south, since Mount Hor lies south-east, or south-south- 
east from Kadesh. 

2nd. That the Israelites waited nearly a whole month 
in passive resignation, so deeply absorbed in their 
mourning for Aaron, as to let their brethren be slain 



266 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

and made prisoners,, without any attempt to take ven- 
geance on the aggressors. 

3rd. That they took a whole month in defeating Arad, 
and destroying a few towns and villages, which they 
meant to forsake as soon as they were destroyed. 

4th. That they spent a whole month, when time was 
precious, and there was no enemy in the way, in a cir- 
cuit of 250 miles around Edom, till the crossing of 
Zered, so as to falsify a note of time which Moses him- 
self has given. 

5th. That another fortnight was spent in marching 
through the heart of Sihon's kingdom, to " the top of 
Pisgah " (Num. xxi. 20), before sending any message to 
be allowed to pass, or before Sihon thought of opposing 
them. 

6th, That they are found, after this, on the east side 
of his kingdom, send a message for permission to cross 
it the third time, are refused, and spend a month in the 
conquest. 

7th. That besides this full month for the conquest of 
a district sixty miles in length, and thirty at most in 
breadth, they required another fortnight to occupy some 
villages, almost in its very centre. 

Six months having been crowded with swift action, 
and rapid marches and countermarches, in this " most 
astonishing and really incredible way," it can hardly 
surprise us that no room is left for the remainder of the 
history. Especially since it must be plain that Balak, 
out of courtesy, would not think of sending to Balaam, 
till the Israelites had spent ten weeks in completely 
conquering all his neighbours, and were on the point 
of crossing the Jordan ; and the plague might occupy 
another month, in slaying 24,000 at 800 a day, if 
the events were crowded to the last in the same as- 
tonishing and incredibly rapid way. It is hard to be 



I 



EEVIEW OF HISTOEIOAL OBJECTIONS. 2(37 

serious in replying to objections so preposterous, which 
bid equal defiance to geography and common sense. 

162. XXIY. Conclusion and Summary of the His- 
torical Objections. 

" An obvious inference from the above facts is, that 
such a narrative as that of the Exodus could never, in 
its present form, and as a whole, at all events, have 
been written by Moses, or by any one who had actually 
taken part in the scenes it professes to -describe. The 
main result of this examination, that the narrative 
cannot be regarded as historically true, is not, unless I 
greatly deceive myself, a doubtful matter of specula- 
tion ; it is a simple question of fact." 

A far more obvious inference from the previous 
review would be, that the work now examined cannot 
possibly be genuine, or belong to the author whose 
name it bears on its title-page. It cannot be written 
by a Bishop of the Church of England, for a Bishop 
of that Church pleading openly the cause of Deism is 
a fact without a precedent, and plainly " unhistorical." 
It can hardly be written even by a Christian ; for no 
disciple, surely, would venture to charge his Divine 
Lord and Master with ignorance and falsehood, and 
make him an active accomplice in spreading a mis- 
chievous delusion, on the strength of gross critical 
blunders of his own. It cannot be the work of an 
arithmetician, for no arithmetician would affirm that 
exactly halving a number, which forms the basis of one 
main objection, leaves its amount wholly unaltered, or 
work a sum in logarithms wrong, which is meant to 
blot the Levites in the wilderness out of existence ; or 
call upon the whole Church to cast aside the faith of 
ages, in reliance on a score of miscalculations. It seems 
equally incredible that a person of proved benevolence, 
high moral character, and wearing a sacred office. 



268 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

sliould embellisli his argument by providing scorners 
with ready-made mockeries of the oracles of God ; with 
grotesque and absurd pictures of Aaron and his sons 
carrying a whole bullock, with its inwards and dung, 
on their back, on foot, a journey of six miles, or gorging 
themselves daily with eighty-eight pigeons in the Most 
Holy Place, where it was death for the High Priest 
himself to enter, save once a year on the day of atone- 
ment. Still, even in this extreme case, it may be a 
mournful necessity to credit the external evidence of 
authorship, where all the internal weighs almost irre- 
sistibly the other way. Much more will Christians con- 
tinue to believe the Pentateuch to be the writing of 
Moses, and the lively oracles of God, when criticisms 
so preposterous as those now examined are placed in 
one scale, and the most weighty evidence, internal and 
external alike, is combined in the other, crowned by 
the solemn and repeated asseverations of the Only 
Begotten Son of God. 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. • 269 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 

163. The inquiry, thus far, has been confined to a 
review of the recent objections, which have been 
brought, on internal grounds, against the historical 
reality of the Exodus, and the veracity of the Scripture 
narrative, whether arising from real difficulties on the 
face of the text, or caused, as in most cases, by rash and 
hasty inferences, or gross and palpable misinterpreta- 
tion. But it seems due to the majesty and holiness 
of the word of God, not to rest satisfied with a mere 
defensive argument ; but to exhibit some part of that 
direct evidence, internal and external, which attests the 
claim of the Pentateuch to be the genuine work of 
Moses, a law Divinely revealed by the God of glory 
to his people Israel. 

When our Lord was about to leave his disciples, he 
said : " These are the words which I spake unto you, 
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, 
which w^ere written in the law of Moses, and the Pro- 
phets, and the Psalms concerning Me." The controversy 
in those days was with the Jews, and not respecting the 
claims of Moses, but his own. The Pharisees owned the 
first, but not the second. '' We know that God spake 
to Moses, but as for this fellow, we know not whence he 
is." Our Lord, therefore, rested his own claims on the 
consenting evidence of those three main portions of the 



270 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

word of God, of which even his adversaries owned the 
Divine authority. The same principle seems to be ap- 
phcable, in our days, in a sHghtly varied form. Those 
who profess still some reverence for Christ, and reject 
and despise the law of Moses, must be confronted by 
the same threefold testimony as the Pharisees of old ; 
while the Psalms, the Prophets, and our Lord himself 
in the Grospels, conspire with one voice to affirm the 
authentic origin and Divine authority of the Books of 
Moses, and of the great event they record, the Exodus 
of Israel. 

I propose, then, to devote three closing chapters to a 
brief review of the testimony to Moses and his writings 
in these three main portions of the word of God. I 
pass by the other historical books of the Old Testament, 
which flow out of the Pentateuch as their common 
fountain, and bear witness to it, either directly or by 
implication, almost in every page. But some review of 
the statements in the Psalms and the Prophets seems 
desirable, to shew the continuity and strength of the 
whole body of evidence, and to give double force to the 
weighty and solemn declarations of the Incarnate Son 
of God. 

164. The Psalms of David are that portion of the 
Old Testament which, more than all the rest, has 
moulded and nourished the spiritual life of the Church 
of Christ from its birth even until now. With a very 
large proportion of Christians they form one main ele- 
ment in their continual offerings of prayer and praise 
before God. They are enshrined in the heart's deepest 
experience of ten thousand saints of God for almost 
three thousand years, and are hallowed by the repeated 
use of the Son of God himself, even while banging on 
the cross ; first, in his cry of bitter anguish, " My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" and soon after, 



• THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 271 

in the words by which He commended his departing 
spirit into the hands of his Father. No writings could 
have a higher attestation of their heavenly origin and au- 
thority, both human and Divine. What light do they 
throw on the present controversy ? What evidence do 
they offer, to decide whether the Books of Moses, and 
their narrative of the Exodus, are a clumsy forgery, or 
true and genuine messages of the Most High, by his 
servant Moses, to the children of Israel, and through 
them to all mankind ? 

165. The first Psalm is like a Divine key-note and 
introduction to the whole book which follows. It sets 
before us, in simple and striking words, God's own 
revelation of the true secret of human happiness. In 
what does this secret consist ? " Blessed is the man 
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor 
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat 
of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of 
THE Lord ; and in his law doth he meditate day and 
night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the 
rivers of waters, that bringeth forth its fruit in its 
season : his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever 
he doeth shall prosper." 

These words are not an original message, given for 
the first time in this preface to the Book of Psalms. 
They are the echo of one far earlier, in the message of 
the Lord to his servant Joshua, when the Book of the 
Law had just been completed, only a few days before^ 
and laid up under the charge of the priests and Levites, 
by the side of the ark of the covenant. The charge was 
given in these words : " Only be thou strong and very 
courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to 
all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee : 
turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou 
mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book 



272 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth ; but thou 
shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest 
observe to do according to all that is written therein ; 
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then 
thou shalt have good success." 

There can be no doubt whatever that " the law of the 
Lord " in the Psalm, and in the intention of the writer 
of the Book of Joshua, either on the believing or unbe- 
lieving hypothesis, refers to the Pentateuch, the book 
known to the Jewish people, as far back as tradition 
can reach, under that very name, and cherished by them 
with deep, and even superstitious reverence. And 
here we find, in the first opening of the Book of Psalms, 
that the Spirit of God puts on this book a stamp of the 
highest honour, declares it to be the grand preservative 
of his servants, in those days, from the downward path 
of the scorner ; and that the main secret of human hap- 
piness, peace, and fruitfulness, consisted in the habit of 
daily and nightly meditation on its sacred truths. 

When we turn, then, from the stifling atmosphere of 
sceptical cavilling, with which the previous chapters 
have had to deal, and emerge once more into the good 
land of promise, the hills and valleys of God's own 
Beulah of praise and melody, how striking and com- 
plete is the contrast 1 The Pentateuch, in the view of 
the Psalmist, and of the blessed Spirit under whose 
Divine teaching and impulse he wrote, is no clumsy 
forgery, no patchwork of human fragments, no record 
of events impossible and incredible, full of blunders in 
arithmetic, and messages so unworthy of God as to 
make the supposed discovery of their falsehood a cause 
for thanksgiving. This is indeed to change the glory 
of the God of Israel into the similitude of a calf that 
eateth hay. That law is a record of the marvellous 
works of Jehovah, a revelation of His grace and holi- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 273 

ness, a pledge for the reality of His all-controlling Pro- 
vidence, a treasure-house rich with all manner of stores 
of secret and hidden wisdom. One sentence of it, in 
the view of the Son of Grod himself, outweighs in pre- 
ciousness "the kingdoms of the world and all their 
glory " when presented in the most alluring guise of 
Satanic temptation. The voice of the Psalmist is like 
that of his Master and Lord. In that Divine law, his 
words assure us, is truth without error, warnings to 
shield us from temptation, springs of promise to refresh 
the weary soul, and make it fruitful in all the fruits of 
righteousness ; and, when rightly improved by daily 
and nightly meditation and prayer, a paradise rich 
with all manner of spiritual blessings for the children 
of men. 

166. The Psalms that follow are like so many illus- 
trations of this opening promise. They shew us how 
each history, promise, and precept of the law, under the 
power of holy meditation, blossoms out into new re- 
velations of heavenly truth. The law contains the 
promise to Abraham " Thy seed shall possess the gate 
of his enemies ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of 
the earth be blessed." The Second Psalm develops 
the message into new forms of threatening, hope, and 
promise, revealing the Seed of Abraham as the Son of 
the living God. " I will declare the decree : the Lord 
hath said unto me. Thou art my son ; this day have I 
begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the 
heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for thy possession. . . . Blessed are all they 
that put their trust in him !" The law contains the 
gracious message to the father of the faithful, " Fear 
not, Abraham, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding 
great reward." The Third Psalm appropriates and 
unfolds the promise, in accents of humble thanksgiving. 

T 



274 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

** But tliOTa, Lord art a shield for me " — and more than 
a shield, a reward, " my glory, and the lifter up of my 
head." The law reveals the contrast made between 
Lot and Abraham, and the sinners by whom they were 
surrounded. The fourth Psalm applies the lesson, both 
for comfort and warning : " But know that the Lord 
hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord 
will hear when I call unto him." And the eleventh 
Psalm borrows its lesson, in like manner, from the 
destruction of Sodom, and the favour shewn to righteous 
Abraham. " Upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire 
and brimstone, and a horrible tempest : this shall be the 
portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth 
righteousness; his countenance doth behold the up- 
right." 

Again, the Law opens its messages with an account of 
man's original standing, as the appointed lord and 
ruler of this lower world. The sweet Psalmist of 
Israel, in the eighth Psalm, meditates on this description, 
till faith and hope break through the dark clouds with 
which sin has shrouded the course of Providence, and he 
sees in it the pledge of a glorious redemption still to 
come, in that Saviour of whom he had received the 
promise. His soul thus overflows with lofty hope and 
adoration. " Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is thy 
name in all the earth ! who hast set thy glory above 
the heavens. . . . When I consider thy heavens, the 
work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou 
hast ordained ; what is man, that thou art mindful of 
him ? and the son of man that thou visitest him ? Thou 
madest him a little lower than the angels, and hast 
crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest 
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ;, 
thou hast put all things under his feet : all sheep and 
oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field : the fowl of the 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 275 

air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth 
through the paths of the seas. Jehovah onr Lord, 
how excellent is thy name in all the earth !" 

167. We pass on to the nineteenth Psalm, and the ex- 
cellency of the law of God is set before us once more in 
the most striking and impressive manner. All the 
works of Grod in creation, even the most bright and 
glorious, the heavens, the firmament, and the sun re- 
joicing in his strength, are made a pedestal, to bring 
out into rehef its higher excellence and glory. After a 
brief outline of these outward wonders of Providence, 
the strain of song proceeds : " The law of the Lord is 
perfect, converting the soul : the testimony of the Lord 
is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the 
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the commandment 
of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of 
the Lord is clean, enduring for ever : the judgments of 
the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to 
be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; 
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. More- 
over by them is thy servant warned ; and in keeping of 
them there is great reward." 

What overflowing joy seems to sparkle here in every 
line of this tribute of honour to the law of God ! It 
was indeed to the soul of the Psalmist " a matter of life 
and death." In contempt for these words of God, he 
knew by experience, and by their own testimony, was 
death and spiritual darkness. In humble reverence, 
and hourly meditation on their truths, was life, righte- 
ousness, and honour. They had power to restore and 
convert the wandering soul to the upward pathway of 
life and peace. They were a firm and sure foundation, 
on which the simple might build a large super- 
structure of heavenly wisdom. Their commands and 
ordinances were righteous, bringing joy to those who 

T 2 



.276 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

read in tliem the character of that God who is abundant 
in lovingkindness and truth. In soHd worth they were 
more precious than the finest gold ; and in pleasant- 
ness to the spiritual taste, when once renewed and 
purified by God's Spirit, they were " sweeter than honey 
and the honeycomb." They were full of warnings to 
preserve from the downward paths of sin ; and abun- 
dant also in promises of a rich reward, to be found in 
the pathway of obedience. How unlike the wretched 
parody, which presents itself, in these lively oracles, to 
sceptical, worldly,, or careless readers, is the picture 
here drawn for us by the Holy Spirit, and enshrined in 
the joyful experience of " the Anointed of the God of 
Jacob, the sweet Psalmist of Israel." 

168. But we must hasten onward, and select in this 
wide field some of the plainest and fullest testimonies 
alone. We shall pass over the reference to the account 
of creation, in Psa. xxxiii., to the answers of prayer 
which Jacob and Moses had received, in Psa. xxxiv., 
and to the angelic protection at the time of the Exodus 
xxxiv. 7, to the possession of the land of promise, 
Psa. XXX vii., and to the sojourning of the patriarchs, 
Psa. xxxix. At length we come, in Psa. xl., to a pro- 
phecy of Messiah, a revelation of the heart of the Son 
of God, when He stooped from his throne of glory, and 
entered on his great work of mercy here below. How 
does Emmanuel, in the hour of his condescending love, 
regard that law of Moses, which some, who call them- 
selves his disciples, venture in their ignorance and 
rashness to despise ? " Sacrifice and offering thou didst 
not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened : burnt offer- 
ing and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said 
I, Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written of 
me, I delight to do thy will, my God : yea, thy law 
IS WITHIN MY HEART." xl. 6-8. A deep and won- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 277 

derful testimony of the Lord of glory to the true ex- 
cellence of that portion of the written word, which 
many, even of his true disciples, have never learned 
to apprehend ! He saw in it a pure and perfect gift to 
men from his Father's condescending wisdom and love. 
For thirty years He was content to obey it, in secrecy, 
solitude, and silence ; before He entered, with his spirit 
strengthened by daily meditation in these Divine 
oracles, on his great and stupendous work, the re- 
covery of a ruined world. 

The ancient church takes up the work of testimony, 
and in Psa. xliv. continues the same lesson in another 
form. The history in Exodus, as a true and faithful 
record of the mercies of the God of Israel, is here at 
once made the basis of prayer, and the theme of earnest 
praise. " We have heard with our ears, God, our 
fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their 
days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the 
heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them ; how thou 
didst afflict the heathen, and cast them out. For they 
gat not the land in possession by their own sword, 
neither did their own arm save them : but thy right 
hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, 
because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my 
king, God : command deliverances for Jacob." That 
first Passover, that march from Egypt, those judgments 
on the heathen, which a superficial criticism pretends to 
defame as immoral, or to detect as legendary and untrue, 
have already, for three thousand years, supplied ma- 
terials for fragrant incense of devout thanksgiving, 
rising daily around the throne of the God of truth and 
hohness who " inhabiteth the praises of Israel." 

169. Again, it is needful to pass rapidly many brief 
allusions, the echoes of the law in the heart and mind 
of the Psalmist, which a thoughtful and practised ear 



278 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

will detect in every page. Tims the holy anointing 
oil of the high priest, compounded of myrrh and cin- 
namon, calamus and cassia, suggests the ascription 
of praise to King Messiah : " God, thy God, hath 
anointed thee with the oil of gladness ahove thy fellows. 
All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out 
of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee 
glad." The victories at the conquest of Canaan 
awaken the hope of triumph still to come. " For the 
Lord most high is terrible ; a great king over all the 
earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the 
nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance 
for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved." The 
mention in the law of " the place which God would 
choose, to cause his name to dwell there," supplies the 
key-note in Psa. xlviii., to the praises of Mount Zion, 
" beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, the 
city of the great king." The controversy of God with 
transgressors assumes the form of a direct allusion to 
the law He had revealed : " What hast thou to do to 
declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my cove- 
nant in thy mouth ?" The Psalmist in the hour of his 
own deepest penitence, clothes his prayer in the sym- 
bols which that law supplied to him : " Purge me with 
hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow." He expounds for himself, under 
the teaching of the Spirit, one part of the secret mean- 
ing of the legal sacrifices. " For thou desirest not 
sacrifice ; else would I give it : thou delightest not in 
burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken 
spirit : a broken and a contrite heart, God, thou wilt 
not despise." The history of the world before the flood, 
in Genesis, is the key-note of the meditations in the 
fifty-third Psalm ; and still later, the mention, in the 
song of Moses, of the Eock of Israel, guides the earueet 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 279 

petition : " From the end of the earth will I cry unto 
thee, when my heart is overwhelmed : lead me to the 
Rock that is higher than I." In Psa. Ixvi. the allusion 
to the Exodus becomes full and distinct once more : 
" Come and see the works of God : he is terrible in his 
doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea 
into dry land : they went through the flood on foot : 
there did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power 
for ever ; his eyes behold the nations ; let not the re- 
bellious exalt themselves." In other words, the mani- 
festation of God's power and majesty in the Exodus of 
Israel was to remain a solemn pledge, in every age, of 
his unchanging and supreme dominion over all the 
nations of the earth. 

170. The sixty-eighth Psalm is wholly based on the 
history in the Pentateuch, and puts the seal of God's 
Spirit upon its historical truth and deep moral signifi- 
cance. When the camp of Israel set forward, Moses 
said, " Rise up. Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, 
and let them that hate thee flee before thee." The 
Psalmist repeats and amplifies the prayer : " Let God 
arise, let his enemies be scattered : let them also that 
hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so 
drive them away : as wax melteth before the fire, so let 
the wicked perish at the presence of God." The name, 
I AM, was revealed to Moses at the Exodus. The 
Psalmist turns it into a theme of praise. " Sing unto 
God, sing praises to his name : extol him that rideth 
upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before 
him." The mercies shewn to the lonely Jacob in his 
wanderings, to Moses in his exile, and to the people in 
their house of bondage, are summed up in grateful ac- 
knowledgment. " God setteth the solitary in families : 
he bringeth out those which are bound in chains : but 
the rebellious dwell in a dry land." The journey 



280 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

through the desert is next described. " Grod, when 
thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou 
wentest through the wilderness ; the earth shook, the 
heavens also dropped at the presence of God : even 
Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God 
of Israel." The mercies shewn in the entrance of 
Canaan, the fruitfulness of the land of promise, and the 
triumph over mighty enemies, are the next subjects of 
praise. " Thou, God, didst send a plentiful rain, 
whereby thou didst confirm thy inheritance, when it 
was weary. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein : 
thou, God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the 
poor. The Lord gave the word : great was the army 
of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee, 
did flee : and she that tarried at home divided the 
spoil." Then follows, in a beautiful figure, the contrast 
between the former degradation in Egypt, and the 
beauty, light, and gladness, to which they were raised by 
their entrance on the promised land. " Though ye 
have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings 
of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with 
yellow gold." At length the type begins to lose itself 
in a more glorious antitype ; and the opening chorus of 
thanksgiving for the mercies of the Exodus, and the 
entrance of Ganaan, culminates in the prophecy, " Thou 
hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: 
thou hast received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebel- 
lious also, that the Lord God might dwell among 
them." 

The truth of the Divine record of the Exodus is here 
plainly the starting point and key-note of this noble 
and heart-stirring song of praise. Containing a signal 
prophecy of the Ascension, the key-stone to the whole 
arch of the Christian revelation, it rests firmly on either 
side on the realities of the Pentateuch, which are the 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 281 

double theme of grateful retrospect, and of devout an- 
ticipation, when lands once smitten with judgment shall 
share in the nobler triumphs of mercj. " The Lord said, 
I will bring again from Bash an, I will bring my 
people again from the depths of the sea. . . . Princes 
shall come out of Egypt : Ethiopia shall soon stretch 
out her hands unto Grod." 

171. Once more, in Psa. Ixxiv., the Jewish church, 
in their time of distress, enforce their prayer for help 
and deliverance by an appeal to the wonders of the 
Exodus. " For Grod is my king of old, working salva- 
tion in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the 
sea by thy strength : thou brakest the heads of the 
dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of 
leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat for the 
people inhabiting the wilderness. Thou didst cleave 
the fountain and the flood : thou driedst up mighty 
rivers." Here the judgments on Pharaoh, the passage 
of the Red Sea, the conquest of the seven nations of 
Canaan, the heads of worldly rebellion and wickedness, 
by those who had passed through the wilderness, the 
smiting of the rock at Meribah and Kadesh, and the 
crossing of Jordan, are all made the subjects of grateful 
and adoring praise. The unbelief, which ventures to 
speak of " the utter impossibility of the story in the 
Exodus," is thus like a mocking Momus, infecting with 
poisonous breath the church's incense of thanksgiving, 
and mingling frightful discords with her Divinest melo- 
dies of prayer, adoration, and praise. 

From the afflictions of the whole church, prompting 
her to earnest supplication, we turn, in Psa. Ixxvii., to 
the Psalmist's own personal experience of temptation 
and sorrow. He seeks the Lord in his time of trouble 
and sore perplexity ; he mourns in the night season, 
and his soul refuses to be comforted. His spirit makes 



282 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

diligent searcli, and questions sorrowfully its own stand- 
ing before tlie Grod of holiness. " Will the Lord cast 
off for ever ? and will he be favourable no more ? Is 
his mercy clean gone for ever ? doth his promise fail for 
evermore ? Hath Grod forgotten to be gracious ? hath 
he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?" But he 
reproves himself for his despondency and fear, while he 
meditates on the histories in the law of Moses, and 
remembers the wonders of the Lord in the time of old. 
He then breaks out into a hopeful ascription of praise : 
^^ Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the 
sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The waters saw 
thee, O G-od, the waters saw thee ; they were afraid : 
the depths also were troubled. . . . Thy way is in the 
sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps 
are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock 
by the hand of Moses and Aaron." The truth of that 
great deliverance from Egypt, that triumph at the Red 
Sea, the guidance through the wilderness, was the sure 
foundation of hope and peace to his weary and troubled 
spirit in its hour of sorrow. 

172. We come now, in Psa. Ixxviii., to one of those 
memorial hymns of praise, which repeat at length the 
story of the Exodus, and turn it into a fountain of 
lasting instruction, warning, and comfort, to the Israel 
of Grod. Its opening words are applied in the Gospel 
to our Saviour's parables, as if to place them, with the 
Psalm itself, on a common elevation of Divine and mys- 
terious wisdom. " Grive ear, my people, to my law : 
incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I wiU 
open my mouth in a parable : I will utter dark sayings 
of old : which we have heard and known, and our 
fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their 
children, shewing to the generation to come the praises 
of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 283 

that he hath done." The Divine authority of the law 
of Moses is then affirmed in the most clear and em- 
phatic words. " He established a testimony in Jacob, 
and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded 
our fathers, that they should make them known to 
their children." And the moral purpose of the original 
message, and of its repetition in the Psalm, is clearly 
defined. " That they might set their hope in God, and 
not forget the works of God, but keep his command- 
ments ; and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and 
rebellious generation ; a generation that set not their 
heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with 
God." 

We have, then, a brief statement of all the main 
events of the Exodus ; the signs in Egypt and wonders 
in the field of Zoan, the waters turned to blood, the 
flies, the frogs, the caterpillars and locusts, the hail and 
the hot thunderbolts, and the destruction of the first- 
born ; the triumphant deliverance of the people, the 
parting of the Eed Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire, the 
water from the rock at Meribah and Kadesh, the rain- 
ing down of the manna from heaven, the gifts of the 
quails, and the heavy curse at Kibroth-Hattaavah, 
where they buried the people that lusted, their days 
consumed in vanity and their years in trouble, till their 
first conquest of the land, with the mode of their pos- 
session. " He cast out the heathen before them, and 
divided them an inheritance by hne, and made the 
tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents." Thus all the 
main steps of the sacred history receive here a most 
solemn attestation, and all the church of God are com- 
manded to meditate upon them with reverence, as mes- 
sages not only of undoubted truth, but rich also with 
moral and spiritual lessons, and expressive parables of 
Divine mercy and love. Once deny the truth of the 



284 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

history in the Pentateuch, and this noble Psalm of 
praise and confession degenerates into a hideous 
mockery, a pile of impious falsehood, instead of a grand 
Hallelujah chorus to the God of Israel for the wonders 
of his providence throughout all the generations of the 
days of old. For here the record of the Exodus and 
the Conquest is joined with the later sins of the people, 
in the time of the Judges and of Samuel, when the ark 
was led captive by the Philistines, and Shiloh was for- 
saken ; until the choice of David, and his exaltation 
from the sheepfolds of Bethlehem to the throne of 
Israel. 

173. But the Spirit of God repeats the same lesson in 
a varied form. His voice in the Psalms is " line upon 
line " to impress on our hearts the reality of the words 
of Moses, and the deep meaning of those wonders of 
Providence which they record. A striking metaphor 
replaces the literal history, and presents it to us in 
another aspect, no less striking and impressive than 
before. The song of praise takes its departure from the 
order of march Divinely appointed for the twelve tribes 
in the desert. " Then the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion shall set forward with the camp of the Levites. 
On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of 
Ephraim according to their armies. ... And by him 
shall be the tribe of Manasseh. . . . Then the tribe of 
Benjamin. All that were numbered of the camp of 
Ephraim were 108,100 throughout their armies ; these 
shall go forward in the third rank," Num. ii. 17-24. 
This Divine order, then, is the basis of a solemn invo- 
cation. " Give ear, Shepherd of Israel, thou that 
leadest Joseph hke a flock : thou that dwellest be- 
tween the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and 
Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come 
and save us." The Exodus and the Conquest are then 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 285 

described under tlie figure of a vine brought out by the 
power of God from Egypt, and planted in Canaan. 
The later afflictions of the people are described, and the 
j^rayer is offered. '' Return, God of hosts : look down 
from heaven, and behold and visit this vine ; and the 
vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the 
branch thou madest strong for thyself." Here the 
truth of the whole Mosaic narrative is plainly assumed 
in every hne ; while our Lord himself, in the Gospels, 
adopts the metaphor, and puts his sure seal upon the 
history, that it is a true record of the first planting of 
God's chosen vine in God's own vineyard. 

174. It seems almost needless, and might be like a 
tedious repetition, to trace the same truth at length 
through the remainder of the Book of Psalms, where 
the testimonies are still more full and copious. It will 
be enough to condense their evidence into a brief and 
still more rapid summary. In Psa. Ixxxi., we have an 
allusion to the blowing of the trumpets, appointed 
Num. X. 10, with the declaration, " This was a statute 
for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob." We have 
allusions to the release from Egypt, and murmur ings in 
the wilderness. " I removed his shoulder from the 
burden : his hands were delivered from the pots. ... I 
proved thee at the waters of Meribah ;" and the striking 
promise, " I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out 
of the land of Egypt : open thy mouth wide, and I will 
fill it." In Psa. Ixxxii. we have a direct allusion to 
Exod. xxii. 28, as a Divine message ; in Psa. Ixxxiv. 9, 
to the promise in Gen. xv. to Abraham ; in Psa. Ixxxvi. 
8, 9, to the words of the Song of Moses, Exod. xv. 11 ; 
in Psa. Ixxxix. 10, to the overthrow of Pharaoh and 
the passage of the Red Sea. In Psa. xc. we have " a 
prayer of Moses, the man of God," evidently founded 
on the solemn oath of God pronounced against the re« 



286 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

bellion of the people in the wilderness ; where the truth 
of the history forms the basis for holy meditation, deep 
confession of sin, and a prayer of sublime and sur- 
passing beauty. In Psa. xciii. the ascription of praise is 
crowned by a tribute to the law of Moses, and the excel- 
lency of the temple service : " Thy testimonies are very 
sure ; holiness becometh thy house, Lord, for ever." 
In Psa. xciv., as in the first Psalm, the pathway of hap- 
piness is described. " Blessed is the man whom thou 
chastenest, Lord, and teachest him out of thy law." 
The ninety-fifth Psalm is a song of praise, followed by 
a caution and solemn warning, drawn from the oath of 
God against Israel in the wilderness. Psa. xcix. is 
another testimony to the prophetic office of Moses and 
Samuel, and the authority of the Pentateuch. " He 
spake unto them in the cloudy pillar ; they kept thy 
testimonies, and the ordinance he gave them." The 
same truth reap]3ears in Psa. ciii., in the midst of a 
galaxy of heavenly truths. " He made known his ways 
unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel (see 
Exod. xxxiv.). The Lord is merciful and gracious, 
slow to anger and plenteous in mercy." Then follow 
two Psalms (Psa. cv., cvi.), which are one continued 
memorial, the former of God's mercies, from Abraham 
to the close of the Exodus, and the latter, of the re- 
peated sins and provocations of Israel. In Psa. cxiv., 
cxvi., cxviii., the same events are the subject of distinct 
and prominent allusion, and again in Psa. cxxxii., 
cxxxiii., cxxxv., cxxxvi., cxlvii. ; while Psa. cxix., from 
first to last, is a series of tributes to the truth, excel- 
lence, and wisdom of the law of Moses, the command- 
ments, judgments, testimonies and statutes of the God 
of Israel. It begins with exhibiting its heavenly beauty 
as the guide of the upright. " Blessed are the unde- 
fiied in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PSALMS. 287 

And it closes witli a contrasted picture of its excellency, 
as the desire and hope of the returning prodigal. ^' I 
have gone astray like a lost sheep ; seek thy servant : 
for I do not forget thy commandments." 

Thus the Book of Psalms, from first to last, bears an 
unvaried testimony to the reality of the history in the 
Pentateuch, and the deep and holy wisdom of those 
lively oracles which Moses received, and which form 
the basement of all the later messages of the word of 
Grod. If the Pentateuch is a series of legendary tales 
and impossible fictions, then the Psalms of David, and 
the worship of the Jewish and Christian Church for 
three thousand years, breathed to heaven through these 
majestic organ pipes provided by the Spirit of God, are 
also a series of hideous mockeries, and hateful profana- 
tion of holy things. But it cannot be. The word of 
the Son of God rebukes and condemns the hideous 
error, while he declares, with Divine authority : 
" Yerily I say unto you : Till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the Law, till all 
be fulfilled." 



THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 

175. The testimony of the Prophets to the truth of 
the history in the Pentateuch, and the authority of its 
commands, is too various and abundant to be compressed 
within a few pages. It meets us in the plainest and 
most direct assertions, and the most spontaneous and in- 
direct allusions ; and runs through the whole series of 
their messages, from Isaiah to Malachi, through four 
eventful centuries of the history of the people of Israel. 
It will be needful to confine the present notice to a 
selection of those texts where the doctrine is contained, 
and placed in almost every variety of association, for 
the lasting instruction of the whole church and family 
of God. 

Let us begin with the prophet Isaiah, the most copious 
in his anticipations of Gospel truth. He does not, on 
this account, cease to I'ecognise the authority and Divine 
origin of the law of Moses, but implies it in every page, 
and expressly confirms it in many passages. 

In the fifth chapter we have a warning of judgment, 
ready to fall on the men of Judah, and inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, for their sins against the Great Husbandman 
whose chosen vineyard they were. And how is their 
sin described ? " Because they have cast away the law 
of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the 
Holy One of Israel : therefore is the anger of the Lord 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 289 

kindled against His people, and He hath smitten them. 
For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand 
is stretched ont still." That very course which Chris^ 
tians have been strangely counselled to adopt, as the 
dictate of wisdom, a rejection of the authority, and a 
denial of the truth, of the law of God by his servant 
Moses, is here declared to be the source of all the deep 
and bitter calamities of the Jewish people. 

176. There follows presently the glorious prophecy? 
of the birth of Emmanuel, the Son of the Yii'gin, which 
culminates in the Christmas song of praise, " Unto us a 
Son is given : and the government shall be on his 
shoulder : and his name shall be called, Wonderful, 
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, 
the Prince of Peace." But, in the very heart of this 
fundamental prophecy, there meets us a solemn recog- 
nition of the Divine authority of the law of Moses. 
The people are described as resorting to necromancy in 
the time of their trouble, and their sin is denounced in 
these words, " And when they shall say unto you. Seek 
unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards 
that peep and mutter : should not a people seek unto 
their God ? for the living shall they seek to the dead ? 
To the law and to the testimony : if they speak not ac- 
cording to this word, it is because there is no morning 
in them." Should we, then, be invited in these days, 
under the influence of some strong delusion, to reject 
the books of Moses, and treat them as idle tales and im- 
possible legends, in order thereby " to prepare our 
minds for wider and grander views of God's dealings 
with men and with the universe,"' than we had pre- 
viously attained, the true answer is provided long ago 
by the Spirit of God : "To the law and to the testi- 
mony : if they speak not according to this word, there 
is no morning in them." In the rejection of these early 

U 



290 THE EXODUS OF ISKAEL. 

messages of God tliere may be a deceptive and phos- 
phorescent hght. But the fancied hght is real dark- 
ness. The whole of Divine revelation is annulled, 
when the historical foundation is done away, on which 
its later and still higher messages repose. Pride goes 
before spiritual destruction. The soul, which despises 
these early oracles of God for their condescending 
simplicity, really travels back, through the times of 
the Gospel and the Law, into heathen darkness ; and 
finds its resting place in the spiritual Egypt of a world 
given up to its own idolatry, and wholly unvisited by 
light from heaven. 

177. Once more the Spirit of God, by the prophet, 
reproves the men of Jerusalem for the hollow and su- 
perstitious nature of their services, and their want of 
genuine faith and obedience. And wherein does he 
place the essence of their sin ? It consisted in willing 
ignorance of the written messages of God by Moses and 
the prophets, replacing them by human inventions of 
their own. " And the book is dehvered to him that is 
not learned, saying. Read this, I pray thee : and he 
saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, 
Because this people draw near me with their mouth, 
and with their lips do honour me, but have removed 
their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is 
vain, being taught by the precept of men : Therefore, 
behold, I will do a marvellous work among this people, 
a marvellous work and a wonder ; for the wisdom of 
their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of 
their prudent men shall be hid." Their recovery 
from this snare in later times is described by an opposite 
promise. " And in that day shall the deaf hear the 
words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see 
out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also 
shall increase their joy in the Lord." 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 291 

Thus all the evils which were coming, for ages, on 
the Jewish people, are here traced, by Divine authority, 
to their practical neglect of the messages of Moses and 
the prophets, replacing them by mere human inven- 
tions. Those evils will cease at length, when the 
words of Christ shall be verified in their future conver- 
sion, " Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed 
me, for he wrote of me." When the Saviour opens 
their understanding, as that of his disciples of old, not 
simply to own the authority of the words of Moses, but 
to see their true meaning, and realize their hidden 
beauty and power ; then once more " the eyes of the 
blind will see out of obscurity, and out of darkness;" 
and " the meek," who humbly bow to the authority of 
the written word, " shall increase their joy in the Lord," 
by fresh discoveries of the beauty and spiritual excel- 
lence of all the words, which have been spoken by His 
holy prophets since the world began. 

178. We pass onward to another prophecy, which 
sets before us the grace of the coming Saviour, whose 
work shall be "to open the blind eyes, to bring out 
the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in 
darkness out of the prison house." The prophet an- 
nounces to us His marvellous grace and forbearance in the 
midst of abounding iniquity, and mentions how the law 
of God, dishonoured and profaned by the disobedience 
of countless sinners, would be honoured by the spotless 
obedience of the Son of God. " Who is blind but my 
servant ? or deaf, as my messenger that I have sent ? 
who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the 
Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but thou ob- 
servest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. 
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake • 
he will magnify the law and make it honourable." 

How completely was this saying verified, not only in 



292 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

the personal obedience, but in the public teaching of the 
Son of God ! From the hour of his baptism, when he 
silenced the doubts of his forerunner by the reply 
" Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," to his 
parting voice to his disciples, "All things must be ful- 
filled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in 
the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me," his tes- 
timony is consistent and harmonious. He has magnified 
the Law and made it honourable ; and those who ven- 
ture to dishonour it, and impute folly to the words of 
Infinite Wisdom, imperil their own discipleship, and 
run fearful hazard of making a total shipwreck of their 
faith in Christ. The gentlest voice they can hear from 
the lips of their Lord and Master is the same he uttered 
long ago — '' fools, and slow' of heart to believe !" 

179. The vision changes once more, and brings 
before us a message of hope and encouragement to the 
afflicted Church, whether Jewish or Christian, in the 
latter days. An earnest voice of supphcation rises to 
God, that he will renew the wonders of his redeeming 
love. And what is the basis of this earnest appeal ? A 
lively faith in the wonders of the Exodus from Egypt, 
and in the power and grace of Jehovah which were then 
so brightly revealed, and a longing desire for new and 
still more signal revelations of the same attributes of the 
Most High. How grand and deep-toned is the sym- 
phony of adoring praise ! " Awake, awake, put on 
strength, arm of the Lord : awake, as in the ancient 
days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that 
hath cut Pahab (Egypt) and wounded the dragon? 
Art thou not it that hath dried the sea, the waters of 
the great deep ? that hath made the depths of the sea a 
way for the ransomed to pass over ? Therefore the 
redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with 
singing unto Zion ; and everlasting joy upon their 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 293 

head : they shall obtain gladness and joy ; and sorrow 
and mourning shall flee away !" The truth of the 
Exodus is here exhibited as the firm basement of a light- 
house, constructed by the hand of God himself in the 
midst of the gloom, and darkness, and tempestuous 
waves of a sinful world. The waves dash themselves 
against that foundation, and break into foam, but 
cannot overthrow it. On its basis is reared a lofty 
column, crowned with the glorious light of Grod's 
revealed perfections, and beaming forth hope and com- 
fort to the benighted mariners, who are striving to 
reach some haven of peace through these melancholy 
seas. 

180. But the links of spiritual connection would not 
be complete, unless the Evangelical Prophet, before 
closing his messages, referred by name to the Patriarch 
and the Lawgiver of Israel, whose biographies form 
together so large a portion of the Pentateuch, while the 
latter is not only its subject but its author also. And 
thus we find, near the close of the book, a prediction of 
the repentance of Israel in the last days, in which both 
these names are prominent once more, and another seal 
is put on the truth and Divinity of the record. " Then 
he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people. 
Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with 
the shepherd of his flock ? where is he that put his 
Holy Spirit within him ? that led them by the right 
hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the 
water before them, to make himself an everlasting 
name ? that led them through the deep, as a horse 
through the wilderness, that they should not stumble ? 
As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the 
Lord caused him to rest : so didst thou lead thy people, 
to make thyself a glorious name. ... Doubtless thou 
art our Father, though Abraharn be igr^org^t of us, and 



294 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

Israel acknowledge us not : thon, Lord, art our 
Father, our Redeemerj thy name is from everlasting." 
Thus the Divine mission of Moses, and the truth and 
majesty of the record of that mission, is one of the 
latest sounds on the harp of prophecy, when it speaks 
of the good things to come. Against the firm pillar of 
that perfect law of Grod, the bats and birds of darkness 
must for ever flap their wings in vain. Its truth will 
remain for ever, unimpeachable and unimpaired. From 
the days of Joshua to those of Isaiah, and onward unto 
the time of Israel's, recovery to the faith, it must con- 
tinue to fulfil its high and holy design, " That all peo- 
ple of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that 
it is mighty, that ye may fear the Lord your God for 
ever." 

181. The prophecies of Jeremiah begin with an 
earnest appeal to the people of Israel, and God's re- 
proof of their deep ingratitude, founded on the great 
facts of which the later books of Moses are the record. 

" Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, 
saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying. 
Thus saith the Lord ; I remember thee, the kindness of 
thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou 
wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 
Israel was holiness to the Lord, and the first fruits of his 
increase. . . . Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have 
your fathers found in me that they are gone far from 
me, and have walked after vanity, and become vain ? 
Neither said they. Where is the Lord, that brought us 
out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wil- 
derness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a 
land of drought, and of the shadow of death ; through 
a land that no man passed through, and where no man 
dwelt ? And I brought you into a plentiful land, to 
eat the fruit thereof and ^ the goodness thereof ; but 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 295 

wlien ye entered ye defiled my land, and made mine 
heritage an abomination. The priests said not, Where 
is the Lord ? and they that handle the law know me 
not." 

Here the truth of the whole history in Exodus, 
Numbers, and Joshua, is a first axiom, assumed on one 
side, and admitted on the other, in the great contro- 
versy between God and his rebellious people. The scep- 
tical hypothesis charges the living Grod with direct 
falsehood, and makes Him the slanderer of his people, 
by claiming gratitude for a deliverance never wrought, 
or immensely exaggerated, and imputing to them the 
worst unthankfulness on the ground of mercies never 
really bestowed. It is also plainly affirmed that the 
law of Moses was given them from the very time of 
their entrance into Canaan, and that their refusal to 
observe its holy precepts was the root of all their 
calamities. 

182. This same controversy, in which the authority 
of the Law of Moses is enforced by God, and sinfully 
rejected or perverted by his people, is then repeated in 
various passages. 

" Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and 
see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, 
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. 
But ye said, We will not walk therein. . . . Therefore 
hear, ye nations, and know, congregation ! what is 
among them. Hear, earth ! behold I will bring 
evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because 
they have not hearkened to my words, nor to my law, 
but rejected it." Jer. vi. 16-20. 

The old paths, the good way, are thus plainly declared 
to be- the law of Moses, the lively oracles of God, un- 
corrupted by false traditions, in contrast with the 
heathen idolatries of the people. 



296 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

" Yea, tlie stork in the heavens knoweth her ap- 
pointed times ; and the turtle, and the crane, and the 
swallow observe the time of their coming; but my 
people know not the judgment of the Lord. . . . How 
do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is 
with us ? Lo, certainly, in vain made he it ; the pen of 
the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed : 
they are dismayed and taken : lo, they have rejected 
the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them ?" 
viii. 7-9. 

How could the truth and Divine authority of the 
Pentateuch, the law plainly referred to, be proclaimed 
in more emphatic terms ? It appears from this passage 
that there was a class of scribes, one main part of whose 
business was to multiply copies or extracts of that law. 
But the sin did not consist in the errors of the law itself, 
or in falsified copies, but simply in the practical refusal 
to obey laws which were clearly given, and moral blind- 
ness to the judgments which were near at hand because 
of their idolatry. 

*• Who is the wise man, that may understand this ? 
... for what the land perisheth and is burned up like 
a wilderness, that none passeth through ? And the 
Lord said, Because they have forsaken my law which I 
set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither 
walked therein ; but have walked after the imagination 
of their own heart, and after Balaam, which their fathers 
taught them." ix. 12-14. 

Here, in a context full of Divine pathos and compas- 
sion, the perfection of the law is clearly implied, and 
the desolation of the land is ascribed to one sole cause, 
the rejection of its sacred truths. Once admit the 
thought that this law itself was a very recent forgery, 
full of contradictions and unhistorical falsehoods, and 
these appeals of God by the prophet become so many 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 297 

impious lies spoken in the name of the Lord. The 
visage of an angel of light, beaming with holy love 
and compassion, is changed into that of a loathsome 
satyr, nttering, with a hideous leer, profane mockeries 
and frauds in the name of Jehovah. 

" The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, 
saying. Hear the words of this covenant, and speak 
unto the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jeru- 
salem ; and say unto them. Cursed be the man that 
obeyeth not the words of this covenant, which I com- 
manded your fathers, in the day I brought them out 
from the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 
Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I 
command you, so shall ye be my people, and I will be 
your Grod : that I may perform the oath which I have 
sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing 
with milk and honey, as it is this day. , Then answered 
I, and said, So be it, Lord." xi. 1-5. 

A seal is here placed upon three main events of the 
Mosaic history, the oath sworn to Abraham, Gen. xxii. 
15-19 ; the first commission to Moses, Exod. iii, 8, 17, 
where Canaan is first described as the land flowing with 
milk and honey ; and the words of the covenant at 
Sinai, " Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice in- 
deed, and keep my covenant, ye shall be to me a pecu- 
liar treasure above all people ; for all the earth is mine : 
and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a 
holy nation." Exod. xix. 5, 6. 

" Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, my 
mind could not be towards this people : cast them out of 
my sight, and let them go forth," Jer. xv. 1. There is 
here a direct allusion to Exod. xiv. 15, xxxii. 11-14, BO- 
SS, xxxiii. 12-18, xxxv. 4-9, Num. xii. IS, xiv. 11-20, 
xxi. 7-9, Deut. ix. 18, 25. And thus not only the 
deliverance at the Red Sea, the history of the golden 



298 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

calf, the murmuring and sentence at the report of the 
spies, the compassing of the land of Edom in the for- 
tieth year, but all the moral features of the sacred his- 
tory receive here a direct attestation of their truth f«om 
the lips of Q-od. He appeals to records of the interces- 
sion of Moses, known and familiar to the prophet and 
the people, and puts on their truth and accuracy the 
signet of heaven. 

183. Other passages repeat and unfold the same 
truth. 

" And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew 
this people all these words, and they shall say unto 
thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this 
great evil against us ? or what is our iniquity, or what 
is our sin, that we have committed against the Lord 
our God ? Then shalt thou say unto them, Because 
your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and 
have walked after other gods, and^have served them, 
and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and 
have not kept my law ; and ye have done worse than your 
fathers." xvi. 10-12. 

" Therefore, behold, the days come_, saith the Lord, 
that it shall no more be said. The Lord liveth that 
brought up the children of Israel out of the land of 
Egypt ; But, The Lord liveth, which brought up the 
children of Israel from the land of the north, and from 
all lands whither I had driven them ; and I will bring 
them again into the land which I gave unto their 
fathers." xvi, 14, 15. 

The perfect truth of "the story in the Book of 
Exodus " is here made the foundation of the usual and 
impressive formula in solemn appeals to God, as the 
God of truth and avenger of falsehood ; to be replaced 
hereafter by a similar formula, based on a greater de- 
liverance in the days to come. What can be more mon- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 299 

etrons than the idea of habitual appeals, in the oaths of 
the Israelites, to the Grod of truth, based wholly on 
forged documents and legendary falsehoods ? 

" But hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your 
fathers." xvii. 22. 

" And many nations shall pass by this city, and they 
shall say every man to his neighbour. Wherefore hath 
the Lord done thus unto this great city? Then they 
shall answer. Because they have forsaken the covenant 
of the Lord their Grod, and worshipped other gods, and 
served them." xxii. 8, 9. 

" Therefore, behold, the days come, that they shall 
no more say. The Lord liveth, which brought up the 
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; But, The 
Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed 
of the house of Israel out of the north country, and out 
of all countries whither I had driven them ; and they 
shall dwell in their own land." xxiii. 7, 8. 

" And thou shalt say unto them. Thus saith the 
Lord, If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, 
which I have set before you. Then will I make this 
house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all 
the nations of the earth." xxvi. 4, 6. 

" Ah Lord God ! behold, thou hast made the heaven 
and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out 
arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee : great in 
counsel, and mighty in work : for thine eyes are open 
upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one 
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his 
doings : which hast set signs and wonders in the land 
of Egypt unto this day, and in Israel, and made thee a 
name, as at this day; and hast brought forth thy 
people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and 
with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a 
stretched-out arm, and with great terror ; and hast 



300 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

given them this land, which thou didst swear to their 
fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and 
honey ; and they came in, and possessed it ; but 
they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; 
they have done nothing of all thou commandedst them 
to do : therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come 
upon them." xxxii. 17-23. 

" Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, I made a 
covenant with your fathers on the day that I brought 
them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house 
of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven years, let ye 
go every man his brother, an Hebrew, which hath been 
sold unto thee ; and when he hath served thee six 
years, thou shalt let him go free from thee : but your 
fathers hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear." 
xxxiv. 12-18. 

" They are not humbled unto this day, neither have 
they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, 
that I set before you and before your fathers." xliv. 
10. 

184. One chapter (xxxi.) claims a distinct notice, 
from its conspicuous place among the promises of the 
Old Testament. A glowing prophecy of Israel's resto- 
ration begins, as in other cases, with a retrospect of the 
wonders and mercies of the Exodus. '' Thus saith the 
Lord, The people that were left of the sword found 
grace in the wilderness ; even Israel, when I went to 
cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared unto thee 
from of old : yea, I have loved thee with everlasting 
love : therefore with loving kindness have I drawn 
thee." 

This review, however, of God's mercies in the birth- 
day of the nation, only prepares the way for a promise 
of richer blessings laid up in store for later ages. Thus 
we read, ver. 31-34 : — 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE PROPHETS. 301 

" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will 
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with 
the house of Judah : not according to the covenant that 
I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them 
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; 
which my covenant they brake, and I regarded them 
not, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that 
I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, 
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, 
and write it in their hearts ; and will be their God, and 
they shall be my people." 

The truth, holiness, and perfection of the law of 
Moses is here plainly made the very foundation of the 
new covenant of the gospel. This is not described as 
the substitution of a different law, but only the living 
application of the same law which had been given long 
before, to the hearts, consciences^ and lives of the people 
of God. The Law of Moses is the stem, the Gospel of 
grace is the fragrant blossom and the pleasant fruit 
which it bears. The work of our Lord himself, by 
which he opened the treasures of Divine grace, was, first 
of all, to " fulfil all righteousness," '• to magnify the 
law and make it honourable," Matt. iii. 15, Isa. xlii. 21. 
To malign the law of Moses, then, as untrue and 
legendary, is to undermine and destroy the Gospel . In 
this first clear prophecy of the New Covenant, God 
himself has joined them inseparably together, and man 
must strive in vain to put them asunder. The Penta- 
teuch, by types and prophecies, points onward and 
upward continually to One greater than Moses, the 
Seed of the Woman, the promised Deliverer ; and the 
Gospel proclaims its own object to be that the laws 
of God, revealed in his word from the beginning, 
may be written, not on tables of stone, but inwardly, by 
the Spirit, in the hearts of the children of men. 



302 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

185. The copiousness of tlie like testimony in the 
other prophets makes it needful to give only a few 
examples of the honour everywhere given to the law 
of Moses, as a true and inspired message of God to his 
people Israel. 

Let us turn, first, to the twentieth chapter of EzekieL 
We have there the answer of God to the inquiries of his 
people when " certain of the elders of Israel came to 
inquire of the Lord, and sat before me." It consists of 
a review of all the mercies of the Exodus, and the 
repeated rebellions of the people, first of all in Egypt 
itself, then in the wilderness, and lastly of the children, 
when the next generation entered into the land of 
Canaan. Every part of the appeal is based on the 
record in the Pentateuch, and, on God's own authority, 
both assumes and ratifies its truth. " I caused them to 
come forth of the land of Egypt, and brought them into 
the wilderness," in spite of the utter impossibility of 
the march ! " And I gave them my statutes, and shewed 
them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even 
live in them :" a direct allusion to the words of Lev. 
xviii. 5. " Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths to be a 
sign unto them, that they might know that I am the 
Lord that sanctify them. But the house of Israel 
rebelled against me in the wilderness : they walked not 
in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which 
if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sab- 
baths they greatly polluted. ... I lifted up my hand 
unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring 
them into the land which I had given them, flowing 
with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands : 
oecause they despised my judgments, and walked not 
in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths ; for tneir 
heart went after their idols." Here contempt for the 
law of God, given by Moses, the efi'ect of secret idolatry 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 503 

of the heart, is made the one source of Israel's sin and 
punishment in the wilderness. And this part of their 
history is no antiquated lesson. The same cause pro- 
duces still the same effects, and the Spirit of God has 
turned it into a lasting voice of warning to the Church 
of Christ. " Wherefore . . . take heed lest there be in 
any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing 
from the living God. But exhort one another daily 
while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened 
through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb. iii. 12, 13. 

186. The closing chapters of Bzekiel plainly refer in 
every part to the ordinances of the Tabernacle, the 
sacrifices in the law of Moses, and the boundaries and 
allotment of the promised land, recorded there and in 
the Book of Joshua. Passing over these multiplied 
testimonies to the Divine authority of the Pentateuch, 
we come to the Book of Daniel, the man greatly be- 
loved, reared at the court of the king of Babylon, and 
famed, even in his own days, as Ezekiel testifies, for his 
peculiar wisdom, Ezek. xxviii. 3. But his wisdom and 
Gentile learning led him to no discovery of legendary 
falsehood or utter impossibility in the Books of Moses, 
but only confirmed his faith in their Divine authority and 
perfect truth. He traces all the sufferings of his people, 
and the captivity in which he shared at the time, to 
their contempt for these lively oracles, and disobedience 
to their warning voice. " Yea, all Israel have trans- 
gressed thy law, even by departing, that they might 
not obey thy voice ; therefore the curse is poured upon 
us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the 
servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is 
come upon us ; yet made we not our prayer before the 
Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, 
and understand thy truth." So wide is the contrast 



304 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

between the aspect tliat law assumes in the eyes of 
modern sciolism, and when viewed by that prophet, 
eminently wise and greatly beloved, who stopped the 
mouths of lions, received the visits of angels, and beheld 
the bright similitude of the Son of God. 

187. The prophecies of Hosea abound with direct 
testimonies to the law, or indirect allusions to its his- 
tories. Let us notice a few of the latter only. 

" Therefore, behold, I will bring her into the wilder- 
ness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give 
her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor 
for a door of hope." ii. 14, 15. Here there is a general 
allusion to the whole account in the Book of Numbers, 
and one more special to the sin of Achan in the Book 
of Joshua, when the valley of Achor, where he was 
stoned to death, became a door of hope, in the restora- 
tion of the Divine favour, to the whole people. 

" They eat up the sin of my people, and set their 
heart on their iniquity." iv. 8. Here is a direct refer- 
ence to the law, Lev. vi. 24-30, that the priests, to 
whom the prophet speaks in that verse, were to eat the 
sin-offerings of the people. 

" I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness ; I saw 
your fathers like the first ripe in the ^g tree at her first 
time : but they went unto Baal-Peor, and separated 
themselves unto that shame." ix. 10. Here there is an 
indirect allusion to the law of the first-fruits, and one 
more direct and patent to the history in Num. xxv., 
and to the sin of the people with the Midianites in the 
worship of Baal-Peor. 

" When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and 
called my son out of Egypt." xi. 1. This alludes 
plainly to the message, Exod. iv. 22, 23, and the 
answering judgment on the firstborn of the Egyptians. 

" He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 305 

by his strength he had power with God : yea, he had 
power over the angel, and prevailed : he wept, and 
made supplication unto him : he found him in Bethel, 
and there he spake with us ; even the Lord of hosts ; 
Jehovah is his memorial. . . . And Jacob fled into the 
country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a 
wife he kept sheep. And by a prophet the Lord 
brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he 
preserved." xii. 3-13. 

Here there are no less than six or seven references, 
in one chapter, to so many distinct events recorded in 
the Pentateuch: the birth of Jacob, Gren. xxv. 26; his 
flight from Esau into Syria, xxviii. 1-9 ; his vision at 
Bethel^ xxviii. 10-19; his service for Rachel, xxix. 18- 
20 ; his earnest supplication, and wrestling with the 
Angel on his return, xxxii. 24-30 ; and the mission of 
Moses at the time of the Exodus, Deut. xxxiv. 10-12. 
So thickly sown are the writings of the prophets with 
testimonies of the Spirit to the truth and moral gran- 
deur of his earliest messages ! 

188. The allusions in Amos are not less emphatic 
and various. Every fresh appeal of God to arouse the 
conscience of his rebellious people, is founded on the 
familiar record, in the Pentateuch, of his mercies to 
their fathers in the time of old. " Yet destroyed I the 
Amorite before them, whose height was like the height 
of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks ; yet I de- 
stroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 
Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led 
3^ou forty years through the wilderness, to possess the 
land of the Amorite. And I raised up of your sons for 
prophets and of your young men for Nazarites. (Num. 
vi., xi. 26-29.) Is it not even thus, ye children of 
Israel? saith the Lord." ii. 9-11. The practical con- 
clusion from these undoubted truths of their history 

X 



306 THE EXODUS OF ISRxVEL. 

presently follows, " Hear this word that the Lord hath, 
pronounced against you, children of Israel, against 
the whole family which I have brought up from the 
land of Egypt, saying. You only have I known of all 
the families of the eartli : therefore I will punish you 
for all your iniquities." iii. 1, 2. 

Soon after we meet with that striking denunciation 
of their sin in the wilderness, when they offered human 
sacrifices to Moloch. " Have ye offered to me sacri- 
fices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, 
house of Israel? .But ye have borne the tabernacle 
of your Moloch and Ohiun your images, the star of 
your God, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore 
will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, 
saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts." How 
foolish and profane the thought that He was leaving 
his people to be deceived by false and legendary tales 
respecting those very sins, for which their approaching 
captivity is here solemnly proclaimed to be his own 
retributive judgment ! 

189. In the prophecy of Micah, again, another main 
event of the history in the Book of Numbers receives 
the most solemn attestation of its truth and moral 
import from the lips of Jehovah . 

" Hear ye now what the Lord saith ; Arise, contend 
thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy 
voice. Hear, ye mountains, the Lord's controversy, 
and ye strong foundations of the earth : for the Lord 
hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead 
with Israel. my people, what have I done unto 
thee ? and wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against 
me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and 
redeemed thee out of the house of servants : and I sent 
before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. my people, 
remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS. 307 

what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim 
unto Gilgal ; that ye may know the righteousness of 
the Lord." vi. 1-5. 

Again, at the close of his prophecy, the wonders of 
the Exodus are solemnly confirmed, and made a pro- 
phecy of greater wonders to follow. " According to 
the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I 
shew unto him marvellous things. The nations shall 
see and be confounded at all their might : they shall lay 
their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 
They shall lick the dust like serpents ; they shall move 
out of their holes as worms of the earth : they shall be 
afraid of the Lord our God, and fear because of thee." 
Such appeals and promises of the God of truth must 
rest, in the words even of a sceptical writer, '^ on moun- 
tains of rock, not on heaps of chaff or sand." 

190. Omitting numerous allusions to the Pentateuch, 
and confirmations of its Divine authority, in Nahum, 
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah, it will 
be enough to close this rapid summary by an appeal to 
the parting voice of the Spirit of God in the Old Tes- 
tament by the prophet Malachi. His short message 
is filled with allusions to the history and ordinances 
of the law, the contrast between Jacob and Esau, the 
offerings of shewbread in the tabernacle, the prohibition 
of the blind and lame in sacrifice, the covenant made 
with the tribe of Levi, the law against intermarriage 
with the heathen, the beauty of the land of promise. 
At length the rebukes of their iniquity introduce a 
glorious promise : " Unto you that fear my name shall 
the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his 
wings." But this final prediction, in the Old Testa- 
ment, of the coming of Emmanuel, the Hope of Israel, 
is followed at once by a confirmation of the Divine 
authority and continued obligation of the law of Moses. 

X 2 



308 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

" Kemember ye the law of Moses my servant, which 
I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with 
the statutes and judgments." Thus the latest voice 
of inspired prophecy, in the Old Testament, dovetails 
with one of the earliest and weightiest sayings of the 
Son of God : " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all be ful- 
filled!'' 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 309 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE TESTIMONY OP THE GOSPELS. 

191. The truth and Divine origin of the Pentateuch, 
the Law of Moses, is so clearly taught by our Lord 
and his Apostles, and so interwoven into the whole 
structure of the N'ew Testament, that it would require 
a separate volume, and not a few pages only, to exhibit 
the strength and fulness of their testimony. The very 
opening of the New Testament, in the genealogy in 
St. Matthew, appeals to and ratifies the whole course of 
the inspired history from Grenesis to Chronicles and 
Nehemiah ; while its latest chapter enforces the same 
lesson by that parting message " These sayings are 
faithful and true : and the Lord God of the holy pro- 
phets hath sent his angel, to shew unto his servants the 
things which must shortly be done." The sayings of 
all the prophets, among which the books of Moses hold 
the foremost place, thus receive a final attestation of 
their truth and faithfulness, amidst the holy light which 
beamed on the eyes of the beloved St. John from the 
vision of the New Jerusalem. 

It will be sufficient to confine our present review to 
the first Gospel alone, and to the testimonies which 
meet us there, from the lips of Him who is the Truth, 
to confirm the genuineness of the Books of Moses, and 
the inspiration and authority of those lively oracles 
which he received from God, for the lasting instruction 
of the church in every age. 



310 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

192. We may begin at once witli that history of our 
Lord's temptation, which is the preface to all his public 
ministry. Three times the Tempter seeks to prevail, 
by his most subtle devices, against that stronger Rival, 
whose advent he feared, and by whom his long-usurped 
dominion was in danger of a fatal overthrow. Three 
times the assault is repelled by the shield of faith, and 
by the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. " It is 
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 
" It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord 
thy God." " Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written, 
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only 
shalt thou serve." 

The general doctrine which stands out here in full 
relief on the face of the record, is the confidence of 
the Saviour in the truth and Divine authority of the 
written word of God. By the same answer, "It is 
written," every fraud of the tempter is detected, and all 
his fiery darts are repelled. But there are several 
lessons, which lie just below the surface, and have also 
an important bearing on the sceptical controversy of 
these days. 

First, these quotations are all taken from the law of 
Moses, and from its closing portion, the Book of 
Deuteronomy. They are thus a direct testimony of the 
Son of God to the authenticity of that part of the 
Pentateuch, which must be a genuine work of Moses, 
or else an open and direct forgery. 

Secondly, there is here an evident confirmation of 
two main events in the history in Exodus, the gift 
of the manna, and the smiting of the rock, followed 
by the miraculous gift of water at Rephidim. For 
the former quotation, with its context, reads as follows. 
" And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 311 

and fed tliee with manna, which thou knewest not, 
neither did thy fathers know ; that he might make thee 
know that man doth not live by bread only, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, 
doth man live." It is on the stem of a revealed fact, 
that the precept grows, to which our Lord makes his 
appeal. The fact was the gift of the manna, by which 
the Israelites had been supported forty years " in a land 
not sown." The Divine lesson thereby taught was the 
dependence of human life on the word and appoint- 
ment of the living God, and not merely on bread, or 
usual kinds of earthly provision. Unless the fact were 
true, the conclusion would be a baseless folly. Our 
Lord, in appealing to the command as the guide of 
his own conduct, puts a stamp of undoubted truth on the 
history in Exod. xvi., and on the actual gift of manna 
to the people forty years, till they came to the borders 
of Canaan. 

Again, the second quotation reads at length, " Thou 
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as ye tempted him 
in Massah." And the allusion is to Exod. xvii. 6, 7, 
where we read " Behold I will stand before thee there 
upon the rock in Horeb ; and thou shalt smite the rock, 
and there shall come water out of it, that the people 
may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the 
elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place 
Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the 
children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, 
saying. Is the Lord among us, or not ?" Thus the 
reality of the miracle, and of the congregation on 
whose behalf it was wrought, as described in the te*xt 
of Exodus, is the very basis of the precept ; and our 
Lord, in his solemn appeal to the command, bears a 
direct testimony to the truth of the miracle, and of 
the sin of Israel, on wliich it wholly depends. 



312 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

Once more, these three quotations of our blessed 
Lord are from Dent. vi. 13, 16, and viii. 3. They 
belong to that series of opening chapters, in which 
Moses gives a review and summary of the history of 
the people, from the former giving of the law at Horeb 
to the actual time of his own address at the close of the 
fortieth year. The sceptical hypothesis, which denies 
the truth of the history of that journey, involves the 
immediate consequence, that our Lord, who is the Truth, 
jepelled the assaults of the Great Deceiver by a solemn 
appeal to lying fables, as if they were certain facts of 
Providence, and a sure foundation of all moral duty. 
What view can be more monstrously absurd — might we 
not also say — more blasphemously profane ? 

Still further, these quotations of our Lord include 
that chapter of Deuteronomy which is most offensive in 
the eyes of a self-sufficient and sentimental theology, 
when it would prescribe to the God of holiness its 
own rose-water theories of the universe for the law of 
his solemn judgments upon rebellion. It is between 
these two quotations, that we find it '' written," and 
therefore stamped with the same Divine authority : 
" When the Lord thy God shall deliver them before 
thee ; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them ; 
thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew 
mercy unto them." These words lie just midway be- 
tween the passages, to which, the Son of God makes 
his solemn and decisive appeal. He who wept over 
Jerusalem, still, in the very entrance on his ministry, 
confirms the authority of that record of Divine judg- 
ment on the people of Canaan, which has provoked 
the hard speeches of sinners, in every age, against the 
God of Israel. 

Again, we find it " written " only a few verses before 
the text to which our Lord makes his first appeal : . 



) 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 313 

" If thou slialt say in thine heart, These nations are 
more than I ; how can I dispossess them ? Thou shalt 
not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what 
the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all 
Egypt. . . . And the Lord thy Grod will put out these 
nations before thee by Httle and httle : thou mayest not 
consume them at once, lest the beast of the field mul- 
tiply against thee." He who is the Truth, by quoting 
the words which occur just seven verses later as un- 
questionably true, because they are written in God's 
holy law, becomes our voucher for the fact, which some 
have deemed so incredible, that the fertility of the land, 
if all the Canaanites had been cut off at once, would 
have caused mischief and danger to the Israelites from 
the great increase of beasts of prey. 

193. Again, the chief scene of our Lord's ministry 
after the temptation was Galilee. We are told that he 
left Nazareth, where he encountered such murderous 
malice, and " came and dwelt in Capernaum, by the sea 
of Galilee, on the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim." 
This choice of the especial scene of his labours was 
determined, we are told, by a prophecy of Isaiah. No 
testimony to the Divine authority of the words of 
that prophet could be more striking, than their power 
to decide our Saviour's choice of the theatre of his 
public ministry. But the context of the same prophecy, 
which is so solemnly ratified as Divine, contains a 
double attestation, no less emphatic, to the equal au- 
thority of the law of Moses. We read there the lan- 
guage of Messiah, on his rejection by his own people : 
" Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my dis- 
ciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his 
face from the house of Jacob." The reference to Christ, 
plain in itself, is confirmed by the Apostle, Heb. ii. 13. 
And hence the same authority which determined for 



311 THE EXODUS OF ISEAEL. 

our Lord the scene of his ministry, reveals his purpose, 
when rejected by the Jews, to commit the " law and 
the testimony," the books of Moses, and all God's later 
messages, to the custody of his own disciples, to be 
guarded by them with jealous care and holy reve- 
rence, throughout the later ages of Israel's desolation. 
A few verses later, the prophecy puts a second seal on 
its truth and authority : " To the law and to the testi- 
mony : if they speak not according to this word, there 
is no light in them." 

194. At length, after ratifying the prophet's testi- 
mony to the excellency of the Law in his choice of the 
scene of his labours, the Great Lawgiver of Israel 
begins to open his grand commission, and unveils to 
his disciples his holy commands, and stores of Divine 
wisdom. But he foresaw from the first that a style 
of teaching so unlike the traditions of the Pharisees 
would expose him to the charge of setting aside the 
authority of the Law and the Prophets, the sacred 
messages which God had already given. And hence, 
as soon as he has allured his disciples by promises of 
blessing, and stirred them up by powerful motives to 
diligent obedience, he warns them solemnly against 
a misconception so natural, and still so dangerous. 
"Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the 
Prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For 
verily I say imto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one 
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, 
till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break 
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men 
so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven ; 
but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall 
be called great in the kingdom of heaven." 

The Divine authority of the Pentateuch is thus the 
very first truth which our Lord impresses on the faith 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 315 

of his disciples, in tlie very act of publicly unfolding 
his own message, and announcing the laws and statutes 
of the kingdom of heaven. This is no obiter dictum 
of a fallible messenger, who might be partially deceived, 
and overstep the limits of his commission. The Son of 
Grod himself, whose name is the Truth, lays down for 
his followers the first lesson which every genuine dis- 
ciple is bound to receive. That basis is the perfect 
truth and Divine authority of the law of Moses, the 
first in order of all written revelations of the will of 
God. If that law were an unauthentic forgery, our 
Lord himself must be a public deceiver, and began 
his work by an attempt to stereotype delusion and 
falsehood in the minds of his followers in every later 
age. ^ ^ 

Faith in the truth and inspiration of the Books of 
Moses is thus made, by our Lord himself, the basis and 
starting point of the Grospel. It is true that this 
logical order is not necessarily repeated in the expe- 
rience of individual believers. Men may cling to the 
Saviour on the evidence of his own words, and trust 
him with a genuine faith, who remain slow of heart to 
believe many of the sayings of their Lord, and have 
never searched into the historical foundations of Chris- 
tianity. Truths, vitally important for the welfare and 
stability of the Church at large, may thus remain long 
hidden from their eyes. Our Lord seems to meet, by 
anticipation, the difficulty thus occasioned. He does not 
wholly refuse the name of disciples to all those who 
fail to recognise and accept the truth of his opening 
message. He who does not break the bruised reed, nor 
quench the smoking flax, anticipates, even among his 
sincere followers, an immense variety of partial error, 
delusion, and spiritual blindness. Those who receive 
the earlier messages of God, but with exceptions and 



316 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

abatements, with a weak, unformed, and timorous faith, 
or with some lower degrees of presumptuous unbelief, 
may still have a place in the kingdom of heaven. But 
still their partial unbelief degrades' them from posts of 
honour to an inferior rank among the disciples of their 
Lord, " Whosoever shall break one of the least of 
these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall 
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Even a 
partial disbelief of the Pentateuch, according to our 
Lord's own decision, disqualifies for spiritual honour 
in the Church of Christ ; while a full recognition of the 
authority of these earliest messages is a pledge of faith 
in all the rest, and prepares the soul for eminence both 
of honour and privilege : " But whosoever shall do and 
teach them, the same shall be called great in the king- 
dom of heaven." 

195. From the opening of the Sermon on the Mount 
we pass on to its close, and meet there with this Divine 
epilogue to all its precepts of heavenly wisdom. " There- 
fore all things whatsoever ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the Law 
and the Prophets." This renewed recognition of all 
the Old Testament Scriptures is rendered even more 
emphatic by the caution against counterfeit revelations, 
which immediately follows : " Beware of false pro- 
phets, which come unto you in sheep's clothing, but 
inwardly they are ravening wolves." 

Here our Lord sums up in one comprehensive maxim 
the whole variety of social duty. But he does not rest 
its authority on his own claims to submission, nor on 
the simplicity and moral beauty of the maxim he has 
given. He rests it on the authority of God's earlier 
messages, and simply claims to offer, with Divine 
authority, a condensed epitome of those various lessons 
of duty which God had already made known to his 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 317 

people. No language conld more strongly affirm the 
Law and the Prophets to be pure and holy revelations 
of the will of Grod, than this appeal to them, by our 
Lord, to ratify his OAvn brief and sublime summary of 
all social obligation : " Do ye even so to them ; for this 
is the Law and the Prophets." How is the wisdom of 
the Son of God degraded into utter folly, if we suppose 
him to base the simplest and most comprehensive 
law of brotherly love on its conformity with the 
words of some unknown forger, who " put into the 
mouth of Jehovah " words He never spoke, ascribed his 
own clumsy inventions to " Moses, the man of God," 
and practised for ages a successful fraud on the cre- 
dulity of the Jewish people ! But He who is the 
Wisdom of God is neither deceived himself, nor a 
deceiver of his own followers. Side by side with a 
warning against false prophets. He renews his witness 
to the authority of the words of Moses, and of all the 
other faithful messengers of God. He seems jealously 
careful that his own higher dignity, and the fuller 
glory of the Gospel, shall never be perverted into an 
excuse for despising one jot or tittle of that word, 
which God has magnified above all his name. 

196. From the public teaching of our Lord, in the 
Sermon on the Mount, we pass on to his miracles of 
grace, by which he sealed and ratified his Divine com- 
mission. And here, in the very first of them, as 
recorded in the Gospel, he ratifies the law of Moses, 
and enforces its authority, as the voice of God him- 
self to the chosen people. " And, behold, there came 
a leper and worshipped him, sa^'ing, Lord, if thou 
wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus pat forth 
his hand^ and touched him, saying, I will : be thou 
clean ; and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And 
Jesus saith unto him. See thou tell no man ; but go thy 



318 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that 
Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them." 

We have here the distinct affirmation of our Lord, 
that the law in Lev. xiii., xiv., and by plain conse- 
quence the whole Book of Leviticus, was a record, by 
Moses himself, of commands which he had truly re- 
ceived from God. The same chapters, on which it 
has been endeavoured to fasten a charge of impossibility, 
are those which our Lord ratifies and confirms in this 
emphatic way. He illustrates at once his own saying, 
that he came, not to destroy or abrogate the written 
law, but to secure its fulfilment. The leper, though 
cleansed by miracle, was to obey the directions given 
by Moses ; which taught him, in the day of his cleansing, 
how he was to offer a double tribute of confession and 
thanksgiving to God. 

197. The attempt to escape from the force of these 
words of our Lord, and of similar statements, where the 
fact that Moses was the writer of the Law is affirmed, 
only shews how ill faith in Christ and disbelief of the 
Old Testament Scriptures agree together. Three 
reasons have been advanced to shew that these words 
of Christ prove nothing, and all are equally worthless. 

First, it is said that, at the most, such passages only 
apply to certain parts of the Pentateuch ; since most will 
admit that the last chapter of Deuteronomy could not be 
written by Moses, and many orthodox commentators 
admit the likelihood of some other interpolations. Here 
a plain distinction is overlooked and forgotten. The 
testimony of our Lord to the truth and Divine au- 
thority of the Pentateuch extends to every jot and 
tittle of the whole message. It includes, therefore, the 
last chapter of Deuteronomy, as well as the books and 
chapters which go before. But his testimony to Moses 
as the writer is particular and general, but not uni- 



THE TESTIMONY (3F THE aOSPELS. 319 

A^ersal. It applies immediately to Exod. iii. Lev. 
xiv. and Deut. xxiv., and generally to the whole 
work, so far as it was usually ascribed to Moses, but no 
further. When it can be shewn that the Jewish rulers 
or common people, in the days of our Lord, believed 
Moses to have written the account of his own death_, 
the objection may have some force to w^eaken the power 
of our Lord's sayings. Otherwise it is a mere evasion, 
and has no bearing whatever on the real controversy. 

The second plea is more comprehensive and more 
perilous. Our Lord, it is suggested, did but accommo- 
date himself to the popular language of the day, of 
which four imaginary examples are given. The two 
first of these are his mention of the sun being made to 
rise on the evil and the good, and of the stars falling from 
heaven. This, however, is no real accommodation to 
popular error, but merely the seasonable statement of 
phenomenal truth^ where truths of celestial mechanics 
would be wholly out of place. It is the language of 
every almanack and register of scientific observations 
in our own days. To speak of it as error and accom- 
modation to popular ignorance is itself a vulgar error. 
It is the statement of truth of a special kind, and that 
very kind, which always has formed, and must form, 
the basis of all scientific discovery. 

The third instance of accommodation alleged is where 
Lazarus is said to be " carried by angels into Abraham's 
bosom." This assertion evidently implies a claim to 
more accurate knowledge, than our Lord possessed, with 
regard to the issues of death, and the state of the 
departed spirits of the righteous. When those who 
venture upon it have wrought greater miracles than 
those of the Son of God, they may clear the assertion 
from the just charge of being equally ignorant and 
profane. 



320 , THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

The fourth instance of supposed accommodation is 
where he says, of the woman who had a spirit of infir- 
mity, that Satan had bound her for these eighteen years. 
The remark, also, seems to imply that it is the office 
of disciples, instead of being content to learn from a 
Divine and infallible Teacher, to set him right by their 
superior knowledge of the invisible world and its mys- 
teries, whenever they conceive him to be wrong. 
Whether such persons deserve the name of disciples at 
all seems far more doubtful than the truth of our Lord's 
repeated ascription of disease to the secret operation 
of Satanic power. Surely it is possible that the Son 
of God, who was manifested to destroy the works of 
the devil, knew more of the character and secret 
power of his great adversary, than even the sceptical 
critics of these enlightened days. 

198. The last solution attempted is of an extreme 
and desperate kind. Our Lord, when a child, grew in 
wisdom as well as in stature. It is inferred that he 
was probably ignorant, in his childhood, of the dis- 
coveries of modern science on the non- Mosaic origin of 
the Pentateuch, and never outgrew that early igno- 
rance to the end of his earthly ministry ; or if the ar- 
gument is to be complete, in the face of Luke xxiv. 27, 
44, until the hour of his ascension into heaven. 

This is indeed a desperate resource. Scepticism here 
turns to bay, and when confronted by the testimonies 
of Christ, dares to impute falsehood and delusion to the 
Incarnate Son of God. But the plea is intellectually 
worthless, as well as hatefully profane. There is a 
sinless ignorance, which consists in the creature's limi- 
tation of knowledge, and which our Lord, when he 
emptied himself of his Divine glory, and throughout the 
days of his childhood, condescended to share. Whether 
this wholly ceased, when He received the baptism of 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 321 

the Spirit, and entered on liis public work, or re- 
mained in part till the hour of his resurrection, when 
he entered into his glory, may be open to some diver- 
sity of judgment among Christians themselves. But 
there is a sinful ignorance, which our Lord did not, and 
could not share ; the ignorance which falsely pretends 
to knowledge, and gives decisions, with oracular confi- 
dence, while subject itself to error and delusion. There 
is an ignorance which pretends to teach Divine truth, 
and really ministers to a current of popular delusion, 
and says, like the false prophets, " Thus saith the 
Lord "—when the Lord hath not spoken. Now this 
is the kind of ignorance which the hypothesis ascribes 
to our Blessed Saviour. The Sadducees, unbelieving 
enough for those days, said to him, " Master, Moses 
wrote unto us," quoting Deut. xxiv. Our Lord, in his 
reply, instead of condemning the faith of these Saddu- 
cees in the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy, ex- 
pressly confirms it. On the view now examined, 
whether ignorantly or wilfully, he endorses their error, 
and perpetuates their delusion. And he does this 
when treating of the most vital parts of his message, 
and even rests on one sentence of that law the truth of 
the great doctrine of the resurrection. We are thus 
driven to the conclusion, that the only way of escaping 
from our Lord's testimony is, in reality, to charge the 
Holy One of God with being a false prophet, who 
spake lies in the name of the Lord. The first steps of 
sceptical rejection of the Old Testament may seem 
to be a gentle and easy declivity, but how fearful is 
the precipice to which it leads ! How swift and silent 
is the stream on which it bears those who yield to its 
seductions, even to the brink of awful blasphemy 
against the Son of God ! 

199. Let us return from this needful digression to 

Y 



322 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

tbe words of Christ to the leper, and see what further 
light they will throw on the present inquiry. " Go 
thy way, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for 
a testimony unto them." Moses, then, our Lord being 
the witness, appointed this law in the wilderness, con- 
taining the provision, " And if he be poor, and cannot 
get so much, then he shall take — two turtle doves, or 
two young pigeons, such as he is able to get, and the 
one shall be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offer- 
ing." That very law, which modern scepticism, in its 
profound knowledge of the haunts and flights of all the 
doves and pigeons of Edom and Palestine three thou- 
sand years ago, pronounces to be the forgery of a later 
age. He who ordained all the laws of sacrifice as the Angel 
of God's presence, and who " knows all the fowls of the 
mountains," pronounces to be a law of God given by 
Moses. He teaches us, by his charge to the leper, 
that the words which introduce it, " The Lord spake 
unto Moses, This shall be the law of the leper in the 
day of his cleansing," come within the range of His 
own true and faithful saying : " Till heaven and earth 
pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law, 
till all be fulfilled." 

200. Let us pass on, omitting many weighty allu- 
sions in the intervening chapters, to the message of the 
Baptist, and the words of our Lord to the multitudes 
concerning his own forerunner. There we find the 
impressive statement : " From the days of John the 
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth 
violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the 
prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if 
ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was to come. He 
that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

The Son of God here maps out and defines the stages 
of the world's history, not by the succession of worldly 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 323 

empires, but by events more important in his eyes, tbe 
series and gradation of Divine messages. The Law 
comes first, then the Prophets. The last of these is his 
forerunner, greater than the prophets by reason of his 
nearness to Messiah ; and last of all is the kingdom of 
heaven, distinguished by later messages into the 
present kingdom of grace, and the future kingdom of 
judgment and manifest glory. Thus the Law of Moses 
is expressly declared to be the first in a series of Divine 
messages, by which the grand stages of God's Provi- 
dence are defined, until the coming of the promised 
Messiah, the Sun of righteousness, with light and 
healing in his wings. How could the authority of that 
law be more magnified and confirmed ? How plainly, 
in the eyes of Christ, does it form the early key-note 
of all God's later revelations, the first grand step in a 
continuous and ever-growing system of holy messages 
from God to man, crowned at length by the mystery 
of godliness, the gift of the Only Begotten Son ! 

This truth is doubly confirmed, as before, when we 
consult the immediate context of that prophecy to 
which our Lord appeals. His words, '^ This is Elias, 
which was to come," refer plainly to Mai. iv. 5, 6. 
Now the verse immediately before them is the parting 
sanction given in the Old Testament to the Books of 
Moses : " Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, 
which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with 
the statutes and judgments." This charge of God to 
his people by the prophet comes thus within the range 
of that impressive caution, " He that hath ears to hear, 
let him hear." Willing and obedient hearts are still 
to remember the unchangeable authority of the law of 
Moses, even amidst the new wonders of grace and 
holiness unfolding to them in the gospel, and the dawn- 
ing of the richer mercies of the kingdom of heaven. 

Y 2 



324 • THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

201. From tlie testimony of our Lord to the Baptist 
liis forerunner, we turn to liis controversy with the 
Pharisees and the Jewish rulers. They say to him : 
" Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of 
the elders ? for they wash not their hands when they 
eat bread." Our Lord replies with tones of just 
severity : " Why do ye also transgress the command- 
ment of God by your tradition ? For Grod commanded, 
saying, Honour thy father and mother : and, He 
that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or 
mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be 
profited by me, and honour not his father and mother, 
he shall be free. Thus have ye made the command- 
ment of Grod of none effect by your tradition. Ye 
hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, In 
vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the 
commandments of men." 

The whole force and emphasis of this passage turns 
on the broad and deep contrast drawn by our Saviour 
between the written commandments of God, and false 
traditions by which they had been obscured, per- 
verted, and cancelled. But if the law of Moses, the 
Pentateuch as received by the Jews, was a medley of a 
few primitive laws with later inventions, joined together 
by some unscrupulous forger in the name of Moses, and 
interwoven with falsified history, who does not see that 
this earnest and severe appeal becomes wholly unmean- 
ing and absurd ? Our Lord, in quoting the Pentateuch 
as the words of Moses, would then be guilty, in the 
fullest measure, of the very sin which he charges 
against the Pharisees. Our modern sceptics, like the 
Nazarenes of old, might take up against him his own 
words, " Physician, heal thyself," in a different mean- 
ing. He also, on their hypothesis, would fall under the 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 325 

propliet's censure and liis own ; and tliroughout the 
whole course of his ministry, from the opening of the 
Sermon on the Mount to his parting words after the 
resurrection, would be '' teaching for doctrines the com- 
mandments of men," with every conceivable aggra- 
vation of the sin, from the tones of authority in which 
the deceptive messages were given, and the halo of 
moral beauty thrown around them. As Egyptian 
idolaters placed a crocodile or a monkey in the inner- 
most shrine of their temples, so our Lord, on this view 
of his conduct, would be guilty of enshrining a clumsy 
and misshapen forgery in the sanctuary of loving and 
trusting hearts for thousands of years. But the tones of 
righteous indignation in this passage are their own 
evidence of sincerity and truth. He did not, and could 
not, practise the sin himself on the largest scale, which 
he so sternly condemns. It was no legend or forgery 
which he placed on that pedestal of honour : " Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not 
pass from the law, until all be fulfilled ;" but the word of 
his heavenly Father, which is truth itself, and of which 
he spoke in the hour of his incarnation, " I delight to do 
it ; yea, thy law is within my heart." 

202, We turn now to a different scene. Our Lord 
retires from the malice of his adversaries to the farthest 
verge of the land of promise, goes up into a high 
mountain, and is transfigured in the view of his three 
wondering disciples : " His face did shine as the sun, 
and his raiment was white as the light." Who were 
j?een with him on that holy mount ? Two only, of all 
departed saints, not singled out for their personal faith 
and holiness, since Noah, Job, and Daniel, Abraham 
and David, might then have had equal claims to this 
especial honour. It was Moses and Elijah, the Giver 
and the Restorer of the Law, the representatives of the 



326 THE EXODUS OP ISEAEL. 

Law and tlie Prophets, tlie two main portions of God's 
written word, who alone received this high privilege. 
" Behold, there appeared nnto them Moses and Elias, 
talking with him." Another Gospel reveals the 
subject of their conversation : " They spake of his 
decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
Then a bright cloud overshadowed the disciples, " and 
behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased : hear ye him. 
And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no 
man, save Jesus only." 

The Law and the Prophets, in the person of Moses 
and Elijah, here give their consenting testimony to the 
superior glory of the Son of God, and the Gospel of 
his salvation. But is it not plain that, on the sceptical 
hypothesis of the origin of the Pentateuch, there was 
a prior topic which Moses would have needed to intro- 
duce into this celestial discourse, before entering on the 
wonders of the Crucifixion ? Must he not haye com- 
plained that his own name, and above all, the name of 
Jehovah, was dishonoured, by ascribing to him false 
and impossible history which he had never written, 
and absurd and foolish laws which he had never pub- 
lished ? Must he not have complained that Messiah, 
whose office was to open the blind eyes, had done so 
much to confirm and deepen this delusion and blindness 
of the Jewish people? And does not the hypothesis, 
which treats the Pentateuch as a late composition, un- 
known to Moses, a work of direct fraud, or of moral 
insensibility no less hateful, degrade the blessed com- 
pany on the holy mount into a conspiracy of deceivers, 
accomplices in perpetuating a gross fraud on the cre- 
dulity of mankind, and in a most impious profanation 
of the name of the God of Israel ? 

Yery different is the true character of that wonder- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 327 

ful Vision, and tlaat Divine converse of Moses and 
Elias with the Son of Grod. One of the three favoured 
witnesses reports long afterwards to the whole church 
the main lesson it was designed to convey. " This voice 
which came from heaven we heard, when we were with 
him on the holy mount. And we have more con- 
firmed to us the prophetic word, whereunto ye do well 
that ye take heed, as unto a light shining in a dark 
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in 
your hearts. . . . For prophecy came not at any time " 
— from the days of Moses onward — "by the will of 
man : but holy men of Grod spake as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost." 

203. We descend from the holy mount once more to 
the earth, and review the controversies of Christ with 
his adversaries. His appeal is still the same, to the 
Law and the Prophets, the written word of God. 
" The Pharisees came unto him, tempting him, and 
saying. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for 
every cause ?" He does not rest his reply on his own 
Divine authority, confirmed by his miracles, but refers 
them almost to the earliest page in the Book of Moses, 
where unbelievers see nothing but a Hebrew legend, 
the blind guess-work of some Descartes, Newton, or 
Homer, of those earlier days. " Have ye not read, 
that he which made them in the beginning made them 
male and female, and said, For this cause shall a 
man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his 
wife : and they twain shall be one flesh ? Wherefore 
they are no more twain, but one flesh. What there- 
fore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." 
Thus the words of Gen. ii. 24, being written by Moses 
the man of God, are truly, in the view of our Saviour, 
a law and commandment of the Supreme Creator, a 
lasting ordinance and law of marriage to all mankind. 



328 THE EXODUS OF ISBAEL, 

The PhariseeSj^ still unsatisfied^ return to tlie contro- 
versy. They dare not flatly contradict a decision, 
based on the words of that law of Grod they professed to 
honour J but they quote, almost from its latest page, 
a direction which, in their judgment, qualifies or re- 
verses the other. " Why did Moses then command 
to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her 
away r 

The answer of our Lord is deeply instructive. If 
their faith in the Pentateuch as the. work of Moses^ 
the inspired and holy law of God, were a mere de- 
lusion, out of which various superstitions had arisen ; 
here was a noble opportimity for Him who is the 
Truth, to dissipate the error, and to reprove their false 
confidence in a compilation so defective in itself, and 
stained with such guilt of imposture and delusion. 
Now was the time to distinguish for them between 
genuine fragments of Mosaic legislation, embedded in 
the work, and the erroneous additions or culpable and 
profane forgeries of later hands. He might have told 
them, in reply to the objection, that the history of the 
Pentateuch contained utter impossibilities, and that 
some of the laws, profanely " put into the mouth of 
Jehovah at Sinai," were foolish and absurd, and never 
really given. He does exactly the reverse. He admits 
and confirms their judgment, that the law to which 
they appealed was really given by Moses, and of Divine 
wisdom and authority. He does more than this. First 
of all, he corrects their untrue and inexact quotation. 
The law in question gave no command whatever for 
divorce. It simply ordained, assuming a divorce to 
occur, what limitations must be strictly observed. 
Divorce itself was neither enjoined nor forbidden. 
But if done, it must be done deliberately, and once 
done, be irreparable and irreversible. Next, our Lord 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 329 

explains the true reason w^y the law had been pub- 
lished in its actual form, without defining those cases 
in which alone a divorce was really lawful in the sight 
of God. The foreseen evil of unholy marriages, marred 
by selfish passions, and of divorces that would have 
occurred through the hardness of their hearts, even in 
spite of a more express prohibition^ was thus restrained 
within narrower limits ; and a sense that the separation, 
once made, was irreversible, would greatly check the 
indulgence of fitful passion and capricious lust. Thus 
the authority of the law of Moses is confirmed, its wis- 
dom vindicated^ and its true meaning explained. The 
Pharisees were wholly right in believing the words to 
be those of Moses, and the law itself an ordinance of 
God. They erred by not comparing the messages of 
the Law carefully with each other, and thereby pervert- 
ing one of them into a Divine sanction for that lust 
and selfishness which the Law condemns. 

204. The Sadducees, in their turn, plead the autho- 
rity of Moses against the doctrine of the resurrection^ 
which they were aware that our Lord had publicly 
taught, and so far ranged himself on the side of the 
Pharisees,, their religious rivals. "Master, Moses said,"^ 
is the preface to their argument. The doctrine, in 
their rash and hasty judgment, implied ^*such re- 
markable contradictions and plain impossibilities," 
that it could not, without great folly, be received 
as true and Divine. Our Lord does not escape from 
the fancied impossibility by casting one shade of 
doubt an the Books of Moses, to which they ap- 
pealed. His solution of it is of a very different and 
wholly apposite kind. It was not because they believed 
the Pentateuch too much, but because they studied 
it too little, that all their difficulties arose. " Ye 
do err, not knowiDg the Scripture, nor the power of 



330 THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. ^ 

Grod." One fatal flaw spoilt their argument, so that 
their ignorance and folly cast its own dark shadow 
upon the pure and holy messages of Grod. They 
assumed falsely that the resurrection state was a 
mere continuance of mortal life with all its actual con- 
ditions. He then proves to them, from the words of 
Moses to which they had appealed, the truth of the 
great doctrine they refused to believe : " And as touch- 
ing the dead, have ye not read in the Book of Moses, 
how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the 
Grod of Abraham, the Grod of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the 
living : ye therefore do greatly err." But if, in the 
eyes of our Lord, their error was great, who overlooked 
the true force of one Divine title in the Book of Moses, 
how great must be their guilt, who reject the authority 
of the whole Pentateuch, and^ who strive to pervert all 
the titles of Jehovah which it contains into so many 
excuses for their own Sadduceean unbelief of the word 
of God! 

It would be easy to increase these testimonies, almost 
in tenfold abundance, from the closing chapters of 
St. Matthew, from the other Gospels, and from the rest 
of the New Testament. But the repetition of evidence, 
where it is so plentiful, becomes a wearisome and super- 
fluous task. Our Lord himself has told us that the 
causes which lead to the rejection of Moses and the 
Prophets, when it is deliberate and persevering, are 
seated too deep in the moral nature to be removed 
even by displays of supernatural power : " If they hear 
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded though one rose from the dead." No testi- 
monies of our Lord and his Apostles, however full 
and various, will convince those, who confound the 
imaginations of their own erring minds and half en- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 331 

lightened consciences with the infalKble voice of the 
Spirit of God, and profess that a thousand texts of 
God's word are only as dust in the balance, compared 
with the light of their own moral intuitions. Instead 
of multiplying testimonies, even from the lips of the 
Son of God and his Apostles, all of which, in turn, 
may be evaded or cast aside, let us close with seeking 
the aid of a more effectual remedy. May all the 
readers of this work, who prize the oracles of God, 
and tremble at His word, and who grieve, like Ezra 
and Daniel, at the public dishonour it has received 
in these days, unite in those earnest petitions, which 
the Church of Christ has learned to offer for her own 
erring children in every age ! May it please Him, 
who is the Lord God of the holy prophets, " to bring 
into the way of truth, all such as have erred, and are 
deceived." May He " shew unto them that are in 
error the light of his truth, that they may return into 
the way of righteousness." May He open the eyes of 
all his true servants, as in the days of old, that they 
may see the wonders of his Law, and the glory of his 
Gospel, and discover the harmonies of secret wisdom, 
grace, and holiness, which reveal themselves, more and 
more, to meek and lowly hearts, in all the Scriptures 
of truth, the inspired messages of the King of heaven ! 



( 333 ) 



INDEX OF SCKIPTUKE KEFEKENCES. 



Genesis. p^ge 

ii. 24 327 

vii. 11, 13 .. .. .. .. 239 

ix. 18, 25-6 .. 139 

X. 21 .. .. .. .. 139,147 

xii. 5, 16 131 

xiii. 6 131 

xiv. 13 .. .. .. .. 139,147 

xiv. 14 131 

XV 32 

XV. 1 .. .. 273 

XV. 13 19,22 

XV. 13, 16 21,219 

XV. 16 .. .. .. .. 34,220 

xvii. 1— 6 .. .. ... .. 26 

xvii. 9— 13 .. .. ., .. 132 

xvii. 23, 26 .. .... .. 239 

xviii. 19 .. 132 

XX. 14 .. .. 132 

xxi. 4 .. .. .. .. .. 132 

xxi. 8—13 .. .. .. .. 21 

xxi. 9^12 .. .. ..-= .. 32 

xxi. 20-1 .. .. ... ..^ .. 174 

xxii. 15— 19 ... .. 297 

xxii. 16, 17 ... .. .. , 26,273 

xxiii. 5, 6 .. 132 

xxiv. 6 .. .. 187 

xxiv. 35 .. .. 132 

XXV. 26 .. .... .., .... 305 

xxvi. 2—4 .. ., ... .. 26 

xxvi. 13—16 .. ..... .. 133 

xxviii. 1— 3, 12— 14 .. .. 26 

xxviii. 1— 9, 10— 19 .. .. 305 

xxix. 18—20 .... .. .. 305 

XXX. 21-4.. .. .. .. .. 8 

XXX. 43 133 

xxxii. .. .. ... .. .. 136 



Page 

xxxii. 10 .. 133, 137 

xxxii. 14 , .. .. 85 

xxxii. 24—30 .. ...... 305 

xxxiii 137 

xxxiii. 17 .. ...... 95 

xxxiv. 28-9 .. 133 

xxxiv. 30 134 

XXXV. 11 .. .. 27 

XXXV. 2, 3, 5 .. 134 

xxxvi. 6—8 134 

xxxvi. 7 .. .... .. .. 137 

xxxviii 216 

xxxviii. 12 .. ,. .. .. 135 
xxxix. 14, 17 .. .. .. .. 140 

xl. 14 114,248 

xl. 15 .. .. .... .. 140 

xli. 12 .. .. 140 

xlii. 9 .. .. .. .. .. 228 

xlii. 19 .. 138 

xlii. 37 .. .. 7, 53 

xliii. 8, 29 ' .. 8, 9 

xliii. 32 .- .. 140 

xliv. 11— 13 .. 139 

xliv. 30-1, 33 .. .. .. ,. 8 

xiv. 10, 11, 18 135 

xiv. 17 106 

xlvi. 1— 27 .. .. 4, e^se^., 41 

xlvi. 3, 4.. .. .. .. .. 27 

xlvi. 5 .. ... .. .. .. 88 

xlvi. 6, 7 .. .. .. .... 6 

xlvi. 9,11 .. .. .. 7,218 

xlvi. 12 .. .. .. 11,216-18 

xlvi. 20 .. .. .. .. .. 6 

xlvi. 21 .. .. ...... 9 

xlvi. 26-7.. ... .. .. .. 7 

xlvi. 31-2.. ... ... .. .. 136 

xlvii. 12 .. .... ... .. 136,22a 



334 



INDEX OF SCRIPTUEE REFERENCES. 



xlvii. 27 ., 
xlviii. 5, 6 
xlviii. 16 . 
1. 7—9, 22 
1. 23 



Page 
27 

150-5, 228 

.. 27 

.. 136 

37,51 



Exodus. 
i. 1 228 

i. 6, 7, 12, 20 27, 33-5 

ii. 6, 11— 13 140 

iii 319 

iii. 6 .. .. .. .." .. .. 330 

iii. 8, 17 .. ...... 203-10-97 

iv. 22, 23 .. .. .. 67, 304 

iv. 29 ..' .. .. .. .. 87 

vi. .. ..■ ,:" .. .. .. 61 

vi. 3 .. .. .. .. .. .. 256 



vi. 14—27 
vi. 16—27 
vi. 17—19 
vi. 18,21 
vi. 20—22 
vii. . . . . 
xi. 4, 5 .. 
xii. 1 — 3, 6, 
xii. 6 

xii. 7, 22 .. 
xii. 8 



... .. 145,153 
,. .. .. .. 161 

. 160 

. .. .. ,. 152 
. 20, 144, 156, 228 

,. 255 

,.' .. .. 68,80,83 
7, 21, 27-8 .. .. 80 

,. 109 

. .. .. 92,244 
. .. .. .. 239 



xii. 8, 11, 12, 17, 28-9 
xii. 12, 14 .. .. 
xii. 30 ,._ ..,. •• . 
xii. 37 ..",' ..' .., 
xii. 40— 1 .. .. 

xii. 42 

xii. 43—50 .. .. 

xiii. 2 .. .. .. 

xiii. 2, 3, 8, 12, 13—15 
xiii. 3—10 .. .. 



.. 242^ 
82, 238 
.. 234 
19,95 
19,22 
.. 239 
.. 184 
.. 84 
.. 70 
.. 184 



xiii. 18 .. .. .. .. 97, 244 

xiii. 20 95 

xiv. 15 .. .. 297 

xiv. 8 244 

XV. 11 .. 285 

XV. 17 .. .. .. .. .. 118 

XV. 26 89 

xvi 311 

xvi. 2, 3 101, 109, 114 



Page 

xvi. 16 92, 243 

xvii. 6, 7 311 

xix. 5, 6 297 

xxi. 2 140 

xxii. 5 106 

xxii. 28 .. 285 

xxiii. 17, 18 184 

xxiii. 27—30 202-3 

xxix. 45-6 124 

XXX. 11— 16 23,116-22 

xxxii. 11— 14, 30— 33 .. .. 297 

xxxiii, 12—18 297 

xxxiv. .. .. 286 

xxxiv. 3. .. .. 102 

xxxiv. 25 .. .. .. .. .. 184 

XXXV. 4— 9 .. .. .. .. 297 

xxxviii. 25-28 .. 19, 23, 25—31, 116 
xl. 35 .. .. 110 



Leviticus. 
i. .. .. ... .. .. 172,260 

iii. 17 .. .. ... .... .. 169 

iv .. .. .. .. 172 

iv. 12, 21 .. .. .. .. .. 166 

V. .. 260 

V. 11 - .. .. 169 

vi. 11 . .. ... ... .. .. 166 

vi. 13, 19— 23 .. .. .. .. 170 

vi. 24^30 .. .. .. ... .. 304 

vi. 26 .. .. 256 

vii .. .. 177 

viii. 14 .. : .. .. .. 108 

xii. 13 .. 297 

xiii 318 

xiii. 46 .. .. 166 

xiv. .. 253, 318 

xiv. 8,10 .. 175 

xiv. 11—20 .. .. .. .. 297 

xiv. 34 170 

xiv. 36 .. .. 166 

xvi. 29, 30 .. 240 

xvii 258-60-2 

xvii. 1—6 184-8 

xviii. 5 .. .. 302 

xviii, 28 170 

XX. 1,4, 22-4 ..- ..• .. .. 170 

xxi. 7— 9.. .. .. ., .. 297 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. 



33S: 



Page 

xxii. 10, 24 170 

xxiii. 10—14, 17—20, 22 .. 170 

xxiii. 10, 39-43 169 

xxiii. 40— 43 .. 92,94,170,243 

xxiv. 5, 16, 22 170 

xxvii. 3, 7 220 

xxvii. 5, 6 .. .... 113,127 

Numbers. 

1.1— 46 117 

i. 3 86 

i. 5—17 .. .. 123 

i. 46.. .. .. 19 

ii. 1—32 247 

11.17—24 • .. 284 

ii. 26 227 

li. 32 19,86 

111.10 .. .. 166 

111.14,15 126 

lii. 17— 21, 27, 33 .. .. 160-1 

lii. 27 157 

Hi. 30 .. .. .. .. .. 162 

Hi. 40 66,70 

111.46—51 127 

Iv. 17—20 157, 160 

V. 1— 4 .. .. 176 

vl 305 

yL 13, 16 310-11 

Ix. 1— 13 181 

X. 3,4 .. .. 108 

X. 10 .. .. 285 

X. 35 279 

xi. 6 169 

xi. 21-3 .. 19, 24, 102, 204, 248-9 

xi. 22 100,248-9 

xi. 26— 29 305 

xii. 13 297 

xii. 40 71 

xiii. 27,32-3 210 

xiii. 28 .. 204 

xiv. 11— 20 297 

xlv. 29,31 87 

XV. 1 106 

XV. 1, 2 171 

XV. 2 253 

XV. 1—4 177 

xvi. 1 152 



Page 
xvi. 23 .. .. .... ... .. 53 

xvi. 19, 25 .. 108 

xvii. — XXX 199 

xviii. 1, 2 157,228 

xviii. 9—11, 12—13, 14—18 177 

xviii. 10 256 

XX. .. .. 250 

XX. 4, 5 101 

XX. 4, 12 174 

XX. 4, 8, 11 106 

XX. 5 105 

xxi. 7—9 .. .. 297 

xxi. 13 195 

xxi. 20 .. .. ... .. .. 266 

xxi. 23,32 .. .. .. .. 197 

XXV 304 

XXV. 9 24 

xxvi. 5—11 10, 15, 52 

xxvi. 8 223 

xxvi. 20—22 223 

xxvi. 51 19 

xxvi. 35 61 

xxvi. 43 227 

xxvi. 59 20, 156 

xxvi. 57-8 161-2 

xxvi. 64-5 87, 118 

xxxi 263 

xxxii. 1 .. .. .. 100,104,248 

xxxii. 17 97 

xxxii. 40 55, 223 

xxxii. 41 54, 223 

xxxiii. 38 « 193-5 

XXXV. 25 247 

Deuteronomy. 

i. 1 Ill 

1. 9—11 28 

i. 10 204 

i. 15 98 

i. 35 87 

ii. 14 194 

ii. 24-6 197 

ii. 35 104 

lii. 7 .. 104 

iii. 14 54 

iii. 14, 15 223 

iv. 5 170, 253 



INDEX OF SCRIPTUEE REFERENCES. 



Page 

iv. 14 .. .... 171-2-4, 253 

V. 1 Ill 

V. 31 174, 253 

vi. 13, 16 310-12 

vii. 1 204 

vii. 2 .. 312 

vii. 17, 18,22 .. 313 

vii. 22-3 .. 202-4 

viii. .. .. .. 106 

viii. 3 310-12 

viii. 7-9 .. - .. .. .. .. 211 

viii. 15 .. .. .. .. 101-74 

ix. 18, 25 297 

X. 20 . ,. .. 310 

X. 21-2 .. .. .. .. 24, 28 

xi. 6 223 

xi. 10— 12 ... 211-12 

xi. 22 142 

xi. 23 .. 204 

xii. 8, 9 253 

XV. 12 .. 140 

xvi. 7 .. .. 243 

XX. 9 98 

xxi. 15, 17 76 

xxiv. .. 319-21 

XXV. 5 329 

xxvi. 5 28 

xxvii. 11—14 .. 112 

xxix. 4 168 

xxxii. 10 101-74 

xxxiii. 13, 28 212 

xxxiv. 10-12 .. .. .. .. 305 

Joshua. 

i. 7, 8 271 

i. 14.. .. ..97-8 

iv. 12 97-8 

iv. 13 .. 24 

V. 1— 9 .. .. 253 

V. 5 .. 172-4 

V. 5, 7 255 

vii. 1,18,24 223 

vii. 16—18 56 

viii. 33 .. 112 

viii. 34-5 .. .. Ill 

xvii. 5, 6 51,149 

xviii. 3 .. .. 212 



Page 

xxii. 4, «, 8 .. .. .. .. 243 

xxiii. 9 205 

xxiv. 2 .. .. 139 

Judges. 

ii. 7—10 34-5 

vii. 8 .... 243 

vii. 11 .. .. 97-8 

viii. 5, 6, 14—16 95 

xix. 9 243 

1 Samuel. 

iv. 6, 9 .. 141 

iv. 10 .. .. .. 243 

xiii. 19 .. .. 141 

xvii. 34—6 214 

2 Samuel. 

xi. 11 .. .. .. ..' .. 94 

xii. 31 .. .. .. - .. .. 114 

xxiii. 20 .. 214 

1 KiKGS. 

iv. 20 .. .. 213 

V. 11 .. .. .. .. .. 214 

2 Kings. 

i. 9—13 .. .. 98 

xvii. 26 .. 214 

1 Chronicles. 

ii. 21, 22, 34-5 151 

ii. 35 .. 142 

iv. 21 .. .. .. .. .. 219 

vi. 22 .. .. .. .. .. 155 

vi. 22, 37-8 ..' ..' .. .. 152 

vii. 20— 27 .. .. .. 57,223 

vii. 22—27 37 

viii. 1 .. .. .. .. .. 15 

xii. 27-8 .. 179, 257 

XX. 3 ■ .. .... .. .. 248 

xxiii. 7 .. .. 61 

xxiii. 7— 23 161 

xxiii. 11 .. .. .. .. .. 155 

xxvi. 30— 32 .. .. .. .. 229 

xxvi. 32 .. .. 162 

Ezra. 

ii. 61 151 

Job. 

xl. 2.. 265 



INDEX OF SCKIPTURE REFERENCES. 



337 



2 Chronicles. p^^g 

xxix. 25 187, 261 

XXX. 1—3, 13 181 

XXX. 5 186 

XXX. 16 o ;. 258 

XXX. 16—18 261 

XXXV. 4 187,261 

Psalms. 

i 271 

ii. 7, 8, 12 273 

iii 274 

iv. 3 , 274 

iv. 6, 7 173 

viii 274 

xi. 6, 7 274 

xix. 275 

xxxiii 276 

xxxiv , . . 276 

xxxvii. .. 276 

xxxix 276 

xl 276 

xliv 277 

xlv 278 

xlvii 278 

xlviii 278 

1 278 

li 278 

liii 278 

Iv. 6,7 .. 254 

Ixi 279 

Ixvi 279 

Ixviii 279 

Ixxiv 281 

Ixxvii 281 

Ixxviii 282 

Ixxviii. 48 106 

Ixxx 284 

Ixxxi.-lxxxii. 285 

Ixxxiv. 9 285 

Ixxxvi. 8, 9 285 

Ixxxix. 10 285 

xc 285 

xc. 10 22, 34-5, 220 

xciii 286 

xciv 286 

xcv 286 

xcix .. 286 



Page 

ciii 286 

cv 286 

cv. 36 69,234 

cv. 37 87-8,242 

cv. 38 244 

cvi 286 

cxiv .. .. 286. 

cxvi 286' 

cxviii. ,. 286 

cxix 286 

cxix. 160 .. ,. 287 

cxxxii 286 

cxxxiii 286 

cxxxv 286 

cxxxvi. 286 

cxlvii 286 

Solomon's Song. 
ii. 3, 14 175,254 

Isaiah. 

V 288 

viii. 16, 17 313 

viii. 19, 20 289 

ix 289 

xxix. 12— 14, 18 .. .. ,. 290 

xxix. 13 324 

xli. 1—8 132 

xlii. 7, 19— 21 291 

xlii. 21 301 

li. 3 •.. 215 

li. 9—11 292 

Iii. 12 88 

Ixiii. 11— 14, 16 .. : .. 295 

Jeremiah. 

ii 106 

ii. 1—3, 5—8 295 

ii. 6 101, 174 

V. 6 214 

vi. 16—20 295 

viii. 7—9 296 

ix. 12— 14 296 

xi. 1— 5 297 

XV. 1 297 

xvi. 10— 12, 14, 15 .. .. 298 

xvii. 22 299 

xxii. 8, 9 299 

xxiii. 7, 8 299 

Z 



338 



INDEX OF SCKIPTURE REFEEENCES. 



Page 

xxvi.4, 6 299 

xxxi 300 

xxxi. 8 88 

xxxii. 17— 23 299,300 

xxxiv. 12— 18 .. .. .. .. 300 

xliv. 10 300 

xlviii. 28 174 

EZEKIEL. 

vii. 16 174 

xiv. 2 214 

XX 302 

XX. 6 210 

xxviii. 3 303 

xL, etc i .. 303 

Daniel. 
ix 303 

HOSEA. 

ii. 14, 15 .. : 304 

iv. 8 304 

ix. 10 304 

xi. 1 67, 234 

xii. 3— 13 305 

Amos. 

ii. 9—11 805 

iii. 1, 2 306 

V 25—27 ..105, 166-8, 255, 306 

Obadiah. 
3 175 

MiCAH. 

vi. 1—5 .. 306 

vii. 15— 17 307 

vii. 20 46 

Malachi. 

iv. 2 308 

iv. 4 167,308-24 

iv. 5, 6 323 

Matthew. 

i. 17 16 

iii. 15 292,301 

iv. 4, 7, 10 310 

V. 17,18, 19 .. .. 167,193,205, 
287, 314-16-25 

vii. 12 316 

viii. 2—4 317 



Page 
viii. 4 .. .. 176 

xi. 12— 15 322 

xii. 5 189 

XV. 2—9 324 

xvii. 2, 3, 5 326 

xix. 3--9 327-8 

xxii. 23— 32 329-30 

Mark. 

xii. 18—27 329-30 

xii. 26 203 

Luke. 

ix. 30 326 

xvi. 31 201, 331 

xvii. 20—34, 37 84 

XX. 28—38 328-9 

xxii. 15 78 

xxii. 19 167 

xxiv. 27, 44 320 

xxiv. 44 269,292 

John. 

iii. 14, 15 192 

V. 46 291 

ix. 29 269 

Acts. 

vii. 6 19 

vii. 42-3 172 

Romans. 

iii. 20 .. 167 

V.20 167 

ix. 7, 8 32 

ix. 12 21 

1 COEINTHIANS. 

V. 7 .. 79 

X. 8 24 

G-ALATIANS. 

iii. 17 19,20 

iv. 28— 30 21,32 

Hebrews. 

ii. 13 313 

iii. 12, 13 303 

xi. 27— 29 ^90 

xi. 28 81 

xii. 1,2 90 

xiii. 11— 14 114 

Revelation. 
xxii. 6 309 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



Aaron and liis sons — objections con- 
cerning their fulfilment of the duties 
and requirements of the priestly 
office, 166, 225 ; as to the thirteen 
cities allotted to the sons in Canaan, 
178, 256; death of Aaron, 195; 
mourning for, 265. 

Abiram, genealogy of, 52, 223. 

Abraham's sojourn in Egypt, a type 
and prophecy of that of the Israel- 
ites, 22, et seq. ; migration, 131. 

Achan, descent of, 56, 223 ; sin of, 304. 

Achor, valley of, 304. 

" Aids to Faith," quoted, 130. 

Amos, the prophet — his testimony as 
to sacrifices, 105, 166-8, 255, 306 ; 
founds his appeals to the conscience 
on the record of God's mercies in 
the Pentateuch, 305. 

Amram, the father of Moses and 
Aaron, 156. 

Amramites, the, specious objection 
concerning, 157, et seq. 

Anointing of priests, referred to in 
Psalms, 278. 

Arad, attack of, 195, 265. 

Arms and Armour of the Israelites, the 
difficulty as to, stated and met, 96, 
et seq., 244, et seq. 

Asher, difficulty as to the grandchil- 
dren of, 10 ; number of tribe at 
the first census, 45. 

Atonement Money, the silver, 23, 
et seq., 117, 121, et seq., 251. 

Attai and his descendants, 151. 

Augustine, explanation of, concerning 
Hezron and Hamul, 12. 

Baal-Peor, sin of, 24, 191, 199. 

Balak's messages to Balaam, 198. 



Baptist, John, testimony of our Lord 
to, 322. 

Barzillai, children of, 151. 

Bekah, a, 122-3. (See Shekel.) 

Benjamin — objection as to his ten sons 
answered, 8, et seq.; difficulty as 
to his grandchildren reconciled, 15 ; 
number of tribe at first census, 45. 

Beriah, 10. 

Bezaleel, 50, 222, et seq. 

Bohlen, Von, on Genesis, 2; his 
statement as to the Descent into 
Egypt, 5 ; objection as to number 
of firstborn, 65. 

Booths, the command to dwell in, 
94, 243. 

Breydenback, 194. 

Browne, Principal, on the g-enealogy 
in Chronicles vii. 20 — 27, 59. 

Bunsen's Egypt, 2 ; on the term 
"generation," 34, 220; on tlie 
fruitfulness of the desert, 250. 

Camp and Tabernacle, the, 108, et 
seq.; difficulties with reference to 
size of camp, 108, et seq., 114, 246, 
et seq. (See Tabernacle.) 

Canaan, the return to, 33 ; cities of 
the priests in, 178, 256 ; ix)pula- 
tion of, 202, et seq,; size of, as 
compared with the number of the 
Israelites, 203; pre-eminent fer- 
tility of, 210 ; confirmed by in- 
cidental notices, 212 ; Divine judg- 
ment on the people of, 312. 

Carlisle tables, the, referred to, 74, 206. 

Cattle of the Israelites, 100, et seq., 
240, et seq. (See Flocks.) 

Census, first — number of each tribe 
at, 45 ; difficulties in the account 



340 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



of, 116, et seq. ; 124, et seq., 251, 
et seq. ; mode and order of, 120, et 
seq. ; military cliaracter of, 121 ; 
date of, 124, 199. 

Childbirth, law of, 172, 253. 

Christ, birth of, Isaiah's recognition 
of the Divine authority of the law 
of Moses, in his prophecy concern- 
ing, 289 ; the scene of his ministry 
and the Mosaic record, 313 ; de- 
clares faith in the truth and in- 
spiration of the books of Moses as 
the basis of the Gospel, and asserts 
their Divine authority, 314, etseq. ; 
attests the truth of Leviticus, 318 ; 
alleged accommodation to popular 
error, 319 ; his early ignorance of 
the origin of the Pentateuch implied 
by sceptics, 320 ; controversy with 
Pharisees, &c., and appeals to the 
law of Moses, 327. 

1 Chronicles vii. 20-27 — proposed 
reading of, 59. 

Clinton, Fynes, 19, 39. 

Colenso, 3 ; denies the authenticity 
of the record of the Descent, 6, et 
seq. ; reply to Hengstenberg, 7; ob- 
jection as to Hezron and Hamul, 11 ; 
view of " a generation " examined, 
34, et seq. ; various objections 
quoted and replied to, 216, et seq. 

Collective terms, misconstrued, 109, 
et seq., 246, et seq. 

Dan, tribe of, its large increase, 38, 
43 ; number at first census, 45 ; 
sons and daughters of, 160. 

Daniel's faith in the Divine authority 
of the books of Moses, 303. 

Danites at the Exodus, 227. 

Dathan, genealogy of, 52, 223. 

Descent into Egypt, the, record of, 
4, et seq. ; direct attacks on, and 
confused defence of, 5 ; vindication 
of record, 6, et seq. ; review of ob- 
jections, 216, et seq. 

Divorce, law as to, 327. 

Eber, the case of, 147. 

Edom, journey to compass the laud 
of, 195. 



Egypt, the Sojourn in, 19, et seq., 34, 
47 ; genealogies, 48 ; march from, 
objections as to time and haste, 241, 
et seq. 

Eliab, 52, 223. 

England, population of, 209. 

Ephraim, tribe of, number at first 
census, 45. 

Er, 6, 11,14,22,216. 

Eran, 59. 

Esau, household of, 134, et seq. 

Eusebius, 39. 

Exodus, Book of, the history in, the 
basis of prayer in the Psalms, 277 ; 
and of solemn appeals to God, 298, 
et seq. 

Exodus, the Scriptural data of, objec- 
tions to, stated and met, 18, et seq.^ 
219, et seq. ; numbers at, difficulties 
as to, examined, 23, et seq., 225, et 
seq. ; in the fourth generation, 32, 
et seq. ; narrative of, denied histori- 
cal truth, 267 ; wonders of, enforce 
a prayer for deliverance in the 
Psalms, 281 ; furnish material for 
praise, 282, et seq. ; truth of, con- 
firmed by Isaiah, 292 ; by Jeremiah, 
295, et seq. ; wonders of, confirmed 
by Micah, 307. {See Pentateuch.) 

Ezekiel's testimony to the truth of 
the Mosaic record, 302, et seq. 

Families, distinct, mode of formation 
or branching off, 146, et seq. 

Female line, transition to, in genea- 
logies, 151. 

Firstborn, death of the, 67, etseq., 234. 

Firstborn, the number of, seeming 
difficulty, 64, et seq. ; review of 
objection, 233 ; heads of families 
not reckoned as, Q6, et seq. ; ob- 
jections to this view examined, 71, 
et seq. ; the firstborn, males, and 
on the father's side, 75, et seq. 

Flight, hurried — a fallacious objec- 
tion, 241, et seq. 

Flocks of the Israelites in the Desert, 
100, et seq. ; difScult}'- as to pas- 
ture, 84, etseq., 100, 248, et seq.; the 
objection rests on a mere assump- 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



341 



tion, 101, et seq. ; difficulty as to 
number required for Passover, 240, 
et seq., 249 ; as to collecting them in 
haste for the Exodus, 86, et seq., 241. 

Flour — meat offerings of, 169, et seq., 
255. 

Fortieth year, difficulties as to, 191, 
et seq., 265 ; consistency and truth 
of the narrative demonstrated, 193, 
et seq., 249. 

Four hundred and thirty years, the, 
20, et seq., 32, et seq. 

Fourth generation, the, 32-34, 46, 48, 
et seq. ; review of the objection, 220, 
et seq. 

Gad, tribe of, number at first census, 45. 

Genealogies, the, in Egypt, 48, et 
seq. ; the actual argument, 49 ; the 
separate, 49, et seq. ; general con- 
clusion from, 62 ; review of objec- 
tions, 222 ; early, principles taught 
by, 146, 150; examples of transition 
to female line, 151. 

Generation, the term, 32, 220, et seq. ; 
the fourth, 32, 34, 46. 

Golden rule, the, a summary of social 
duty, resting on the authority of 
the Pentateuch, 316. 

Gospels — testimony to the Divine 
authority of the Pentateuch, 309. 

Hamul. (See Hezron.) 

Harmony, latent, of Divine wisdom 
and truth, 16. 

Havernick — defence of the Penta- 
teuch, 2 ; on the Sojourn in Egypt, 
19 ; on the Descent, 39. 

Heber, 10. 

Hebrew — use of the title, 138, et seq. 

Hebronites, the, 159. 

Hengstenberg, a defender of the Pen- 
tateuch, 2, 5 ; concerning Descent, 
7, et seq., 12, 39 ; as to Sojourn in 
Egypt, 19 ; quoted, 177 ; misrepre- 
sented, 178. 

Hezron and Hamul, the difficulty as 
to, 11 ; met, 12, et seq., 217. 

Hezekiah's passover, 181, 185, et seq, ; 
259, et seq. 

Historical objections, review of — 



synopsis of reply to, 237, et seq. ; 
conclusion and summary of, 267. 

Hosea, indirect allusion to the his- 
tories of the Pentateuch, 304, et seq . 

Infirmity, the woman with a spiri t 
of, 320. 

Isaac's household, 132, et seq. 

Isaiah recognises the Divine origin of 
the law of Moses, 288, et seq. 

Israelites — increase in Egypt, 19, et 
seq. ; difficulty answered, 25, et seq. ^ 
average yearly rate of, 29, et seq. ; 
rate of increase of whole nation, 41 ; 
of the separate tribes, 43 ; seeming 
difficulty as to number of firstboin, 
64, et seq. ; compared to a firstborn 
child, 67, 234 ; the abiding in 
Shittim, 198 ; difficulty as to the 
number of Israelites as compared 
with the size of Canaan, 202, et 
seq. ; number at the Exodus, 205 ; 
a difficulty to be defined, 210 ; dan- 
ger from wild beasts, 214 ; review 
of objections, 224 ; Israel's restora- 
tion connected with a review of the 
wonders of the Exodus, 300. 

Issachar, tribe of, its number, 45. 

Jaazer, conquest of, 197. 

Jacob, number of his family at the 
Descent into Egypt, 4, et seq. ; 
vindication of Scripture record con- 
cerning, 6, et seq.; grandchildren 
of, the difficulty concerning, 9, et 
seq.; actual number alive at the 
time of the Descent, 14 ; number of 
household of, 130, et seq. ; objec- 
tions, 136, et seq., 216 ; bearing of 
the Descent of this family on the 
later increase, 142, et seq. ; the 
seventy names, 142-8. 

Jair, the descent of, 54, 151, 223. 

Jarha, 151. 

Jeremiah — attests the truth of the 
history in Exodus, Numbers, and 
Joshua, 294, et seq. 
Jews, their sufferings and the evils 
predicted to fall on them, ascribed 
by the prophets to the practical 
neglect of the Law of Moses, 291-5. 



342 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



Jocliebed, 10, 

Joseph, history of, 135. 

Josephus, 19 ; on the 430 years, 20 ; 
on the paschal company, 182-8, 240, 
261, et seq. 

Joshua, line of, 48, et seq. ; 57, et seq. ; 
genealogy, 223. 

Judah, age of, at Descent, 11 ; sons 
of, 13 ; grandsons of, 14 ; men of, 
in time of David, 213. 

Kadesh, the rebellion at, 171. 

Kitto, conjecture of, on 1 Chron. vii. 
22, 37, 58 ; number of males under 
twenty years, 72 ; quoted, 194. 

Kohath, family of, 155, et seq. ; gene- 
ration of, review of objections, 
226. 

Korah, sons of, 159. 

Kuenen, his view on 1 Chron. vii. 
22-27, 37, 58. 

Kurtz, his defence of the Pentateuch, 
2, 5, 7 ; as to the sojourn in Egypt, 
19 ; the Descent, 12, 39 ; on the 
number of the firstborn, 64-66; 
number of males under twenty years 
of age, 72 ; quoted, 194, 235. 

Laadan, 59. 

Lambs, difficulty as to number slain 
at the passover, 84, et seq.; the 
sprhikling of their blood, 185, et 
seq. ; 259, et seq. 

Law, the reading of, to all Israel, 
futility of objection, 111, et seq. 

Law of Moses, the, connexion be- 
tween, and the gospel, 1 ; recog- 
nised by the personal obedience 
and public teaching of the Son of 
God, 292 ; enforced by God, 295 ; 
its perfection clearly implied, 296, 
et seq. ; truth, holiness, and perfec- 
tion of, made the basis of the 
Gospel covenant, 301 ; honour 
given to, in Ezekiel, 302 ; con- 
tinued obligation of, confirmed by 
Malachi, 307, et seq. ; Divine epi- 
logue to all its precepts, 316 ; mag- 
nified and confirmed by Christ, 322, 
et seq. (See Pentateuch.) 

Lazarus carried by Angels to Abra- 



ham's bosom, sceptical objection 
to the fact, 319. 

Leper, the, law for the offering of, 170, 
175, 254; truth of the record con- 
firmed by Christ, 317, et seq., 322. 

Levites, the, genealogy of, in Exodus, 
conclusions from, 161 ; at the 
Exodus, review of objections, 228 ; 
increase in the wilderness, review 
of objections, 229. 

Levitical families, the, numeration of, 
126, et seq. ; objections to the truth 
of sacred history, drawn from the 
account of, 144, et seq; objections 
examined, 153, et seq. 

Leviticus, Book of, the laws in, not 
all required, 168 ; nor intended or de- 
signed to be observed in the wilder- 
ness during forty years, 169 ; their 
truth attested by our Lord, 308. 

Life, human, recognised length of, 34. 

Malachi — allusions to the history of 
the Pentateuch, 307; and solemn 
confirmation of the Divine authority 
and continued obligation of the law 
of Moses, 307, et seq. 

Malchiel, 10. 

Males, probable number under 20 
years, 72. 

Manasseh, the families of, 149. 

Manassites, increase of, 233, et seq. 

Marriage, law of, 170, 327. 

Meat offerings of flour, 169, et seq.y 
255. 

Micah, attests the truth of one main 
event recorded in Numbers, 306 ; 
confirms the wonders of the Exodus, 
307. 

Midian, conquest of, 199, 263. 

Midianites, the, spoil of, 104 ; war on, 
191 ; objection as to the number 
of Israelites engaged therein, 263. 

Moab, the plains, the march to, 198. 

Moloch, 105, 306. 

Moses, mission of, and truth of the 
record concerning it, confirmed by 
Isaiah, 293, et seq. ; main events of 
the Mosaic history ; intercession of, 
297 ; faith in the Books of, the 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



343 



basis and starting point of tlie 
Gospel, 315 {See Law). 

Nahslion, 50, 222, et seq. 

JSTaphtali, tribe of, number at the 
first census, 45. 

Noah, sons of, 146. 

Numbers, the Book of, objections to 
the truth of, 153, et seq ; truth of, 
confirmed by Micah, 306. 

Numbering of the people, 116 ; diffi- 
culty as to distinct numberings, 
116, et seq., 118 {See Census.) 

Numerical objections, review of, 216, 
et seq. ; epilogue on, the objection 
answered, 236. 

Old Testament, the, its Divine 
authority confirmed by our Lord 
and his Bpostles, 1, 309. 

Ordo ScEclorum, 59. 

Onan, 6, 11, 14, 22, 216. 

Paschal lambs, 104 ; company 182-8, 
240, 262. 

Passover, the first, 78, et seq. ; its 
counterpart under the gospel, 79 ; 
difiiculties of the message being 
communicated or acted upon in a 
single day, 80, et seq., 238 ; as to 
the number of lambs, 84, et seq., 
238 ; second, 104 ; the Passover in 
the wilderness, 180, et seq. ; objected 
that its observance was impossible, 
182 ; the objection shown to be un- 
reasonable, 183, 258, et seq. 

Pasture, required in the wilderness, 
the difficulty of, 84, et seq., 238, 
102, et seq., 248, et seq. (See Flocks.) 

Patriarchs, the twelve, sons of the, at 
the Descent, 45, 225 ; Scripture 
statements on the households of, 131. 

" Pentateuch Examined " quotations 
from, 6 ; first objection, 13, et seq. ; 
chaps, xiii. — xxi., iv. — xii., xxi.-ii. 
18, et seq. ; objection as to the 
600,000, 25 ; on the " fourth gene- 
ration," 34, et seq. ; genealogies, 36, 
59 ; as to the number of firstborn, 
65, et seq. ; numerical objections, 
216 — 236 ; historical objections, 
237—268. 



Pentateuch, the, a rejection of the 
record involves a rejection of the 
authority of Christ, 1 ; obedience to 
the truths contained in, the true 
secret of human happiness, 271 ; 
promise to Abraham unfolded in the 
Psalms, 273 ; contrast between Lot 
and Abraham, and the sinners sur- 
rounding them, 274 ; reveals man's 
original standing, which the 
Psalmist meditates on till faith 
and hope see a pledge of a glorious 
redemption to come, 274 ; excel- 
lency of the law set forth in Psalm 
xix., 275 ; Psalms based on, 279 ; 
truth and authority of, confirmed 
by Jeremiah, 295, et seq. ; by 
Ezekiel, 302 ; impressed by our 
Lord on the faith of his disciples, 
314, et seq. (See Law). 

Pentecost, 169. 

Petavius, 39. 

Pharez, the sons of, difficulties as to, 6 ; 
met, 11, et seq., 216. (See Hezron.) 

Phinehas, 257. 

Pigeons, the, objections founded on 
the law for eating them in the most 
holy place, 177, 255. 

Plague, the, death of 24,000 by the, 
198, et seq. 

Popular error, alleged acconamodation 
to, on the part of our Lord, 319. 

Population of England and Wales, 
1801—1861, 29. 

Priest, the, objections drawn from the 
duties of, 114, 248, 253. 

Priests, the, in the wilderness, objec- 
tions to the truth of the Pentateuch 
founded on their duties, 165, et seq., 
252, et seq. ; that their number was 
unequal to the services required, 
166 ; its fallacy exposed, 167, et seq., 
172, 260 ; various commands about 
provision for, objections founded on, 
177, 255 ; as to the offering of the 
lamb in the wilderness, 182, et seq. 

Promise, land of. (See Canaan.) 

Prophets, the, testimony of, to the 
truth of the Pentateuch, 304, et seq. 



344 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 



Psalms, the, and the Pentateuch, 269 

et seq. (See Pentateuch.) 
Kameses to Succoth, the march from, 
supposed difficulties stated, 86 ; 
shown to be critical errors passing 
on to misstatements and perver- 
sions, 87, et seq., 96. 

Eawlinson, Professor, quoted, 130. 

Eephidim, smiting of the rock in, 310, 
et seq. 

Eestoration of Israel, prophecy con- 
cerning, 300. 

Pesurrection, the, law of Moses and, 
321, 329, et seq. 

Reuben, the question of his two sons, 
7 ; tribe of, number at the first 
census, 45. 

Eevelation, illustration of a double 
law of, 17. 

Eeview of numerical objections, 216, 
etseq.; of historical objections, 237, 
et seq. 

Eobin son's estimates as to the number 
of males under twenty years, 72. 

Sacrifices to Grod, with rare excep- 
tions, not offered in the wilderness, 
105, et seq. ; the question, were all 
required in the wilderness ? 168 ; 
for women after childbirth, 172, 
253 ; the slain beasts, 255 ; the 
sacrifices and purifications acknow- 
ledged by the Psalmist as symbols 
of penitence, etc., 278. 

Scaliger, 39. 

Scott, his defence of the Pentateuch, 
5 ; on the number of the firstborn, 
64 ; on the freedom from sickness, 
88, et seq. ; on the allotment of the 
thirteen cities to Aaron's sons, 178. 

Sermon, the, on the Mount, and the 
precepts of the Law, 316. 

Seventy, the, 142-8. 

Sheep and cattle of the Israelites, 100, 
et seq., 248, et seq. (See Flocks.) 

Shekel of the Sanctuary, 23, et seq.^ 
117, 251 ; half a shekel, 122. 



Shittim, the abode in, 198. 

Siclmess, the freedom from, 88, et seq. 

Sihon, the conflict with, 196, 266. 

Simeon, tribe of, number at the first 
census, 45. 

Six hundred thousand, the, 23 ; objec- 
tion to the statement, 25, 41, 77, 
225-6. 

Sojourn, the, in Egypt, 19, et seq. ; 
arguments in favour of 215 years, 
20, et seq., 34, 46, et seq. 

Spies, the, 194, et seq., 210, et seq. 

Sprinkling of the blood, the, objection 
as to, at the Passover, 185, et seq., 
260. 

Substitution, the law of, 13. 

Succoth, 92, 94, et seq., 244 

Synopsis of historical objections, 237. 

Tabernacle, difficulty as to the gather- 
ing of all the congregation at the 
door of, 109, et seq. ; objections met, 
246, et seq. 

Tabernacles, feast of, 159. 

Tents and arms of the Israelites, 92, 
et seq. ; objections as to conveyance 
of tents through the desert stated 
and met, 92, et seq., 243. 

Temptation, our Lord's — the replies 
to the tempter confirm the truth of 
Deuteronomy and two events of 
Exodus, — the gift of the manna 
and the smiting of the rock in 
Eephidim, 310, et seq. 

Transfiguration, the, and its testimony 
to Moses, 326, et seq. 

Turtle doves, the, sacrifice of, 173, 
254, et seq., 322. 

Usher, quoted, 39. 

Venema's explanation as to Hezron 
and Hamul, 12. 

Wild beasts, the danger from, 214. 

Wilderness, the, the sin in, 306. 

Zebulun, the tribe of, number at the 
first census, 45. 

Zelophehad, 51, 222, et seq. 



LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFOED STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 



PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY. 



THE BIBLE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 

By the Kev. T. E. Bieks, m.a., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
12mo. Edition. 3s. cloth hoards, 4s. half hound, 
Svo. Edition, finely printed, Is. cloth hoards, containing an Appendix on the following 

Subjects : — 

The Evidential School of Theology.— The Limits of Keligious Thought.— The 

Bible and Ancient Egypt. — The Human Element in Scripture. 

— Genesis and Geology. 

PALEY'S HORtE PAULINA. 

With Notes and a Supplementary Treatise, entitled HOE^ APOSTOLIC^. 

By the Eev. T. E. Birks, m.a., late Fellow of Trinity College. 

With a Map. 12mo. 3s. cloth hoards. 

PALEY'S EYIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 

With Introduction, Notes, and Supplement. By the Eev. T. E. Birks., m.a. 
12'mo. 3s. cloth hoards. 



In the course of Pvblication. 
A NEW EDITION 

OF THE 

WORKS OF JOHN HOWE. 

Printed on Fine Paper, in Demy 8vo., in Six Volumes, each consisting of from 460 to 
520 pages. 5s. in cloth hoards. 



This Edition includes the •' Life " by Mr. Henry Eogers, revised by the 
Author. This gentleman, who has been long impressed with the conviction that 
the uncouthness of many parts of Howe's writings might be at least considerably 
diminished, and his pages made more readahle, by a careful revision of the 
punctuation (which was very faulty in the early editions, and has much fluctuated 
in the later), has attempted its revision throughout, and, in order to secure a 
correct text, has compared the printer's proofs with editions of the several works 
published in Howe's lifetime. Beyond the changes of punctuation, however, and 
the adoption of modern forms of orthography, etc., no alterations whatever have 
been made ; one of the objects of the Editor being to insure the utmost possible 
accuracy in the text. A Preface to the first volume of the " Works," by Mr. 
Eogers, will more fully explain the nature and extent of the improvements 
attempted in this Edition. 



11 PUBLICATIONS OF THE • 

ANNOTATED PAEAGEAPH BIBLE. The Old and New 

Testaments, according to the Authorized Versions, arranged in Paragraphs 
and Parallelisms, with Explanatory Notes, Prefaces, and New Selection of 
Eeferences. Maps and Engravings. Super royal 8vo. 

Old Testaihent, cloth boards, 14s. 

New Testament, do. 7s. 

Old and New Testajient, complete in 1 vol., do., 20s. 
Ditto, calf extra, 27s. 
Ditto, half morocco, 25s. 6d. 
Ditto, morocco, 36s. 

Old and New Testament, in 3 vols., cloth boards, 22s. 
Ditto, half bound, 33s. 6d. 
Ditto, calf extra, 42s. 
Ditto, morocco, 55s. 
Ditto, morocco elegant, 58s. 

Laege-Papee Edition, cloth boards, 28s. 

Ditto, half calf, 32s. 

Ditto, morocco, 63s. 

Ditto, morocco antique, 67s. 

POCKET PAEAGEAPH BIBLE, according to the authorized 
Version ; with Eeferences, Prefaces, and Notes. With Maps. 3s. cloth bds. ; 
4s. roan gilt ; 5s. French morocco ; 6s. Turkey morocco ; do. flexible back, 7s. ; 
do. gilt clasp, 9s. 

BAENES' NOTES ON THE GOSPELS. Principally designed 

for the use of Sunday School Teachers and Bible Classes. From the American 
Edition. Vols. I. and II. 2s. each, boards ; 3s. half bound, 

BAXTEE'S EEFOEMED PASTOE. Edited by the Eev. William 
Beown, m.d. A New Edition. 12mo. 2s. 6d. cloth boards. 

BIBLE HANDBOOK. An Introduction to the Study of Sacred 
Scripture. By Joseph Angus, d.d.. Member of the Eoyal Asiatic Society. 
Octavo edition, with Illustrations, 10s. cloth boards. — 12mo. edition, with 
Map, 5s. boards ; 7s. half bound ; calf, 8s. 6d. 

BIBLE TEXT CYCLOPEDIA : A complete Classification of 
Scripture Texts, in the form of an Alphabetical Ihdex of Subjects. By Eev. 
James Inglis. 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth boards; 9s. 6d. half bound ; lis. 6d. calf. 

BIBLICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA; or, A Dictionary of Eastern 
Antiquities, Geography, Natm-al History, etc. Edited by John Eadie, ll.d, 
Maps and Pictorial Illustrations. A New Edition. Svo. 7s. 6d, boards J 
9s. 6d. half calf; lis. 6d. calf. 

BIBLE EEADEE'S HELP : for the Use of Plain People, and the 
Young in Families and Schools. Containing 160 ^ages. 6d. in cloth limp ; 
is. cloth boards. 



i 



RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY. Ill 

BOOK OF PSALMS, according to the Authorized Version: 
arranged in Parallelisms. With a Preface and Explanatoiy Notes. 3s. extra 
cloth boards ; 3s. Gd. with curtain-flaps to cover edges. 

BUNYAN'S PILGEIM'S PEOGEESS. Superior Large Paper 
Edition, with a Life of the Author. Twenty-four beautiful Engravings in Oil 
Colours. 10s. extra cloth boards, gilt edges. 

COMMENTAEY ON THE EOMANS. By Professor Hodge. 
12mo. 3s. cloth boards ; 4s. half bound. 

COMPANION TO THE BIBLE : for Bible Classes, Families, and 

Young Persons in general. With Maps of the Ancient World, Canaan, and 
the Travels of Paul. ISmo. Cloth boards, 2s. ; half bound, 2s. 6d. 

COMPLETE CONCOEDANCE TO THE HOLY SCEIPTUEES. 

On the Basis of Cruden. Edited by John Eadie, d.d., ll.d. A New Edition, 
8vo. 5s. cloth boards ; 7s. haK bound ; calf, 9s. 

CEUDEN'S EXPLANATIONS OF SCEIPTUEE TEEMS, taken 
from his Concordance. Royal 18mo. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. ; half bound, 4s. 

FOOTSTEPS OF THE EEFOEMEES IN FOEEIGN LANDS. 

A volume blending Topographical Descriptions with Historical and Biogra- 
phical Incidents, illustrative of the Reformation on the Continent of Europe, 
With Eight fine Coloured Engravings. Suitable for a Present. 5s. extra 
cloth boards. 

GE.OGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE; or, some Account of the 
Countries and Places mentioned in Holy Scripture. With Maps. 18mo, 
cloth boards, Is. 6d. ; half bound, 2s. 

HANDBOOK OF THE ENGLISH TONGUE. By Joseph 
Angus, d.d. 12mo. 5s. cloth boards. 

HAEMONY OF THE FOHE GOSPELS, in the Authorized 
Version. By Edwaed Robinson, d.d., ll.d. With Explanatory Notes and 
References to Parallel and Illustrative Passages. Two Maps. Royal 12mo. 
3s. boards. 

LEIGHTON'S (Archbishop) PEACTICAL COMMENTAEY ON 
THE FIRST GENERAL EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. 2 vols. ISmo. 
3s. Qd. cloth ; 5s. 6d. half bound. Royal ISmo. with Portrait, 5s. cloth 
boards ; 10s. calf. 

NEW BIBLICAL ATLAS, AND SCEIPTUEE GAZETTEEE. 

Containing Twelve superior Maps and Plans, together with descriptive 
Letterpress. Super royal 8vo. 2s. 6d. plain ; 4s. outlines coloured ; 6s. 6d. 
on imperial drawing paper, fiill coloured, and bound in boards. 

PAPAL EOME; Its Temper and its Teachings. By George 
Henet Davis, ll.d. Foolscap 8vo. 2s. cloth boards. 



iv PUBLICATIONS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACT SOCIETY, 

EEGENEEATION ; being Five Discourses, by Daniel Wilson, 
(Bishop of Calcutta), Daniel De Stjperville, Dr. Geoege Payne, Dk. 
John Caied, and R. H. Seeley. Foolscap 8vo. 2s. cloth boards. 

EEPENTANCE, FALSE and TEUE. Four Sermons. By the 
Eev. C. Bradley, Vicar of Glasbury. ISmo. Is. cloth boards. 

J:HE almost CHEISTIAN DISCOVEEED; or, The False 
Professor Tried and Oast. By Matthew Meade. Foolscap 8vo. 2s. cloth 
boards. 

THE ATONEMENT ; being Four Discourses by Charles Lord 
Bishop of Gloucestee, Dr. Chalmees, W. Aechee Butler, m.a., and Egbert 
Hall, m.a. Foolscap 8vo. Is. 6d. cloth boards. 

THE BELIEVEE'S LIFE ; containing the Points of a Christian's 
Experience from liis Conversion to his Arrival in Glory. By the Eev. 
James Marryat, b.a. Foolscap 8vo. 2s. cloth boards. 

THE BENEFIT OF CHEIST'S DEATH. Originally written in 
Italian by Aonio Paleario. Introduction by the Eev. J. Ayre, m.a. New 
Edition revised. 18mo. Is. Gd. boards. ' 

THE DIYINE LIFE : A Book of Facts and Histories. By the 
Eev. J. Kennedy, m.a. Foolscap 8vo. 3s. boards. 

THE DIVINE ATTEIBUTES. By Stephen Charnock, d.d. 
Two thick vols. 12mo. 8s. cloth boards. 

THE ESSENTIALS OF CHEISTIAN ITY, Theoretically and 
Practically considered. By the late Eev. Joseph Milnee, m.a.. Foolscap 8vo. 
3s. cloth boards. 

THE GOSPEL AND THE GEEAT APOSTASY. Being an 

Essay to which was awarded the sum of One Hundred Pounds. Foolscap 
8vo. 2s. cloth boards. 

THE JUSTIFIED BELIEVEE: His Security, Conflicts, and 
Triumph. By W. B, Mackenzie, m.a. 2s. boards. 

THE EOCK OF AGES ; or, Scripture Testimony to the Eternal 
Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. By Edward 
H. Bickeesteth, M.A. A New and Eevised Edition. 48. cloth boards. 

WATEE FEOM THE WELL-SPEING, for the Sabbath Hours of 
Afflicted Believers. By Edward Bickeesteth, m.a. Eoyal 18mo. 28. cloth 
boards. 

WOEK AND CONFLICT; or. The Divine Life in its Progress. 
By the Eev. J. Kennedy, m.a. 3s. cloth boards. 




Z^::^-^J^^ - - «\' 2 ^\ \W^/ //<2, z '-^ ^ ■ - Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proce! 

HV/^y^ * (^"^ '^ - ^^iifl^^ "^ A^ '-'^ k' Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

' ^(^^V^^* \' '^' '' ^fli^ * ''V ''^';^ . : ^.-.^.^J^^ Treatment Date: June 2005 

)/ " ' o"^ c « ^ '^ . % ''' -^ ^ ' '^N^^^, . ^ ' « « % ^ " ' ' ^ ( PreservationTechnologie 

'^ "^^ <.' ,:^S^v& ■'^ "^^ V^ ^ J^(07P:^\ ^ ^ A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATI(» 

■>;, ^\ = t'^SM^ ' "^ V"^ - ^J±^'^<^'- . •>' V 111 Thomson Park Drive 

-^ ^ ' "^ -^' •" " -^ €^~r- . . QQ CranberryTownship, PA 16066 

<>5 -7-, X^C^, : A ^_, (724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 380 439 2 









.im^i 
















